CHAKWAL: Rasheed Ahmed, 46, owns 25 acres from which he ekes out a living by labouring hard throughout the year. His income heavily depends on the wheat crop. Last year, he cultivated wheat on 10 acres which was harvested a month ago.

“I have managed to get a good yield but am forced to sell my wheat in the open market as I could not get to know about the process initiated by Punjab government to purchase wheat from farmers,” he complained.

Nehmat Khan, a progressive farmer from Chak Bazeed village, cultivated wheat on 20 acres and got 500 maunds of yield. “I applied to sell my wheat to the government but was left shocked when my application was rejected for unknown reasons,” he told Dawn.

“Left with no other option, I had to sell my wheat in the grain market at a cost of Rs1,100 per maund. From those Rs1,100 the traders deduct commission and labour fee too. In other words I have got Rs1,050 as the actual price of per maund,” he explained.

Like Rasheed Ahmed and Nehmat Khan, thousands of farmers in the district missed the opportunity to sell wheat to the government due to one reason or the other while the faulty land revenue system, old policies of buying wheat and hosts of other problems continue to serve as impediments in bringing relief to them.

Only 403 farmers have managed to sell their wheat at the wheat procurement centre in Chakwal while there are scores of villages which could not send a single farmer to the centre.

The Punjab government has allocated Rs130 billion to purchase four million tons of wheat for 2018-19 and set up 382 procurement centres in the province. The support price has been fixed at Rs1,300 per 40kg while contrary to its previous policy of fixing a specific target of buying wheat at each procurement centre, this year the government has made the condition of maximum 10 acres of land for one grower which means a farmer can only sell the yield of 10 acres. The government has fixed 20 maunds for one acre. Ironically, the average production of wheat remains 45 to 50 maunds from one acre in the province but under this policy a farmer could sell half of his yield that too from one acre.

More than 70pc of rural population in the Potohar region depends on agriculture while wheat and peanuts are the major crops. As the region falls in the pluvial area it is considered as a “deficit area” by the policy makers when it comes to the wheat production.

“This notion is no longer relevant to Chakwal which has improved its wheat production due to certain reasons,” said an official of the food department.

In Chakwal, wheat is cultivated at 390,000 acres annually while the average production remains 25 to 35 maunds per acre.

Though the district food department, which is without its head for one year, does not have the authentic record as how much wheat is required annually for the district, an official of the food department told Dawn that 4.5 maunds of wheat was consumed by one adult person annually. Keeping in view Chakwal’s current population which is 1,495,982 it can be estimated that 270,000 tons of wheat is the annual need of Chakwal district while the annual production is 390,000 tons. This means Chakwal is producing 120,000 surplus tons but despite this the district imports 15,000 tons of wheat annually from other districts.

“This means that 150,000 gunny bags filled with wheat reached Chakwal from far-flung districts such as Dera Ghazi Khan. The government has to bear Rs200 as transportation cost for one bag. Thus an amount of Rs30 million is wasted every year on wheat transportation to Chakwal alone,” said an official.

Ironically, wheat imported from other districts is sold to flour mills which export the flour to other districts particularly to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Why is wheat imported from other districts when Chakwal already produces surplus wheat? The government could buy wheat from the farmers of Chakwal easily as this will not only bring relief to the farmers but will also save the government from transportation charges,” said the official.

Due to faulty and irrational policy of government, thousands of farmers in the district are forced to sell their wheat in the open market.

“Gone are the days when wheat production used to remain very poor in the district as farmers neither could prepare their land well nor could they afford to use fertilizers and recommended seeds But now the situation has changed as wheat production in the district has been increased,” said Mumtaz Hussain Kahoot, a progressive farmer from Janga village.

Mohammad Aslam, the deputy director agriculture department, told Dawn that due to the construction of more than 22 small dams and installation of tubewells, drip irrigation system, Chakwal had now 32,000 acres under irrigation.

“This irrigated area has improved the production of wheat while recommended seed verities also help enhance the production,” he maintained.

“The government should re-frame its wheat procurement policy for Chakwal as under the current policy not only farmers but the government itself is facing losses,” said Nawab Taimur, a progressive farmer from Mangwal village.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2018