LAHORE, Dec 17: The kind of importance that Punjab government attaches to the marketing of agricultural commodities can be gauged by the fact that it has created a new department for the purpose.

This was stated by the newly-inducted minister for agriculture marketing, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, while talking to reporters here on Wednesday.

He was accompanying the agriculture minister at a press briefing.

At present, the marketing system is being looked after by the directorate of agriculture, Market Committee Provincial Fund Board and market committees. The directorate was established in 1967 with the basic objective of regulating and facilitating trade of agriculture produce and developing the marketing infrastructure. For the purpose, field offices were established at the district level.

The Provincial Market Fund Board was established in 1980. Each market contributes 10 per cent of its income to the fund. The minister said that some 133 market committees were working in the province. Out of them, 27 fall in Class A with an annual income of over Rs1.6 million, about 50 in Class B with an annual income of over Rs800,000 and the rest in Class C with incomes of less than Rs800,000.

The committees are responsible for developing the infrastructure and regulating the sale and purchase of agriculture produce. Up till now, 149 grain markets and 95 fruit and vegetable markets have been developed.

The market committee fee is charged at a rate of Re1 per quintal while the commission on sale is charge by agents at a rate of 1.5 per cent for grains, 2.5 per cent for fruit and 3.12 per cent for vegetables.

Since Pakistan was in a transitional stage to a surplus regime, the minister said, there was need for marketing and new strategies to deal with surpluses. For the purpose, a new department has been created by the Punjab chief minister to look after the problems of farmers. For that, restructuring of all three departments previously looking after marketing has been initiated. Experts from the international market would be hired. An autonomous body has been created to do the needful with a seed money of Rs50 million.

To begin with, the department will concentrate on horticulture produce. Some 30 to 40 per cent of it goes waste at the post-harvest stage due to lack of technology and infrastructure. These losses will be managed and grading, packaging and cold chain facilities developed.

The possibilities of value addition are also being looked into. This will also help reduce price fluctuation, Mr Noon said. For potatoes, the department has evolved a mechanism for calculating the crop size at an early stage so that arrangements for export of surplus could be made in time.

According to Mr Noon, a modern information system was also being developed to educate growers on domestic and international markets. Information about the quality standards required by importing countries would also be collected and disseminated among growers, traders and processors, he concluded.