GROWERS are forced to sell their wheat crop at Rs2,800-2,900 per 100kg bag in the market which is lower than the official support price.

Traders from various cities like Karachi, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore have set up camps at different places in districts Dadu and Jamshoro, purchasing wheat from growers and supplying it to other parts of the country and Afghanistan.

In this ongoing season, the wheat crop is of good quality but for recent heavy rains and dust storms that have hit the crop in the Khudabad, Jhaloo, Amniani, Moundar, Chhhandan, Kakar, Khanpur, Phulji and Dadu.

“Wheat procurement season has started and thousands of tonnes of the crop are stocked up in different places in District Dadu, but the SIndh food department has not established wheat procurement centres there” says Mohammad Omer Jamali, President, Sindh Abadgar Board, Dadu.

“It was rainy season and growers were worried about around 0.4m tonnes of their stocks lying under the open sky”, said Mohammad Omer Jamali.

Mr Jamali says: “The official rate of a 100kg bag should be increased from Rs3,250 to Rs3,400”.

Some seven days back. according to Urz Mohammad Lund, a local grower from Chhandan area, heavy rains and strong winds had damaged 10-15pc of the standing wheat in Chhandan , Pipri, Khudabad, Jhaloo, Moundar, Kakar, Khanpur, Phulji areas of Dadu.

“If the food department government delays providing gunny bags to the growers, thousands of acres of standing crop and thousands of tonnes of wheat stock in fields would be further damaged, rendering growers a huge loss” said affected wheat grower Urz Mohammad Lund.

He adds: “In this season, wheat production is good and it was 100-120 maunds per acre but the Sindh government has not started to purchase wheat from growers. Thus, small growers are now selling wheat to traders of Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and other towns of Sindh at very low rates.

Faqir Ghulam Mohammad, another small grower of Kandi Village of Dadu, complains that his 150,000 maunds of wheat are lying in the open and food officials are not providing him gunny bags.

Ghulam Qadir Rind, Chairman, Action Committee of Small Growers Association of Johi, has demanded that at least 40 wheat procurement centres should be established in Dadu and wheat purchase should be started immediately from growers in the district.

A local grower of Taluka Sehwan, Sharif Ahmed Bux Otho said that wheat procurement has not started yet. He said local growers are compelled to sell their crop to the traders at cheaper rates.

“It is the corruption in the Sindh food department in District Jamshoro. The local food officials charge Rs200 per gunny bag which is earmarked for their preferred growers.Over 80pc of the bags go to political big wigs”, said Ahmed Bux Otho.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, April 3rd, 2017