The government has assessed that it is in no position to achieve its wheat procurement target this year because the official procurement rate for 40 kg wheat is at least Rs100 less than the market price.
Sources in the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock told Dawn on Monday that the Federal Food Committee, Ministry of Finance and provincial food departments have reached a conclusion that farmers in Sindh and Punjab were not ready to sell their wheat to the government at the officially fixed rate of Rs510 per 40 kg this season because market rate was at least Rs620.
The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet had fixed the wheat procurement price on February 25 by setting aside a proposal of the FFC and Minfal to buy seven million tons of wheat from farmers this season at about Rs600 per 40 kg and keep it as “strategic reserves” to avoid a flour crisis in the near future.
The sources said the Sindh government had informed the centre that it saw no attraction for farmers in the procurement price.
According to Mohammad Idrees Khokhar, chief coordinator of the Farmers Associates Pakistan, the landed cost of imported wheat is Rs1,350 per 40 kg. He said in a statement that, the government was spending a huge amount of money on the import of 1.7 million tons this season but was not willing to pay that price to its own farmers.
The association has demanded the wheat support price of Rs1,250 per 40 kg.This year’s support price is 20pc more than last year’s Rs425. But this increase is of little consequence in view of the more than 100pc increase in the cost of fertiliser and other inputs and the fact that wheat price exceeded Rs800 per 40 kg when the flour crisis was at its peak.
“We already suggested a higher support price to the ECC and we believe that only a competitive price can attract farmers,” an official spokesman of the FFC told Dawn.
Now, the government is under pressure to either increase the support price or get ready to import more wheat, because, farmers are going to sell their wheat only to private parties, which even after paying Rs620 will be doubling their investment by exporting their stocks to neighbouring countries where the price is touching new highs.
PUNJAB FLOUR: In another development, the PFMA on Monday received a green signal from the government to increase the price of flour by Rs15 for a 20 kg bag.
Sources in the provincial food department said the decision was taken at a meeting held in Lahore in the evening between the PFMA and the chief secretary and food secretary of Punjab.
Now, consumers across Punjab would pay Rs300 per 20kg of flour.
The sources said there was also a possibility that the official retail price of flour in Sindh might be increased in the coming week due to the immense pressure from the millers.
In the NWFP, the retail price of a 20 kg flour bag has already crossed Rs400 and is going up because the provincial government is unable to pick its wheat lying at the port in Karachi in the absence of any transportation arrangement.
