CHAKWAL: Despite Punjab government’s claims being made through a massive advertisement campaign for the betterment of small farmers, the farmers in Chakwal have been left high and dry as the wheat purchase target fixed for the district is too less to accommodate them.

According to the advertisement campaign run by the food department, Rs130 billion have been allocated for the purchase of four million tons of wheat from the farmers in the province.

Under the Wheat Procurement Programme, 382 wheat purchase centres have been set up across the province. The support price of wheat has been fixed at Rs1300 per 40kg while a farmer is entitled to sell 10 sacks (1,000 kg) of wheat against one acre of land to the government.

However, the government has fixed only 5,000 tons as wheat purchase target for the Rawalpindi division, comprising the districts of Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal and Jhelum.

For the Chakwal district, a 1,500 tons target has been fixed and two wheat procurement centres have been set up one each in Chakwal city and Talagang. For Chakwal centre, which has to cater to the tehsils of Chakwal, Kallar Kahar and Choa Saidan Shah, the target is 1000 tons and for the Talagang centre of tehsils Talagang and Lawa the target has been set at 500 tons.

Similarly, 1700, 1500 and 300 tons of wheat purchase target has been fixed for the Attock, Jhelum and Rawalpindi districts, respectively.

“Although the wheat production is not bumper compared to last year, the yield is satisfactory in tehsil Chakwal and some areas in Attock and Jhelum,” said an official of the agriculture department.

The farmers are braving with the lengthy and complicated process for getting bardana, which are empty sacks issued to the farmers who return it filled with wheat. Ten sacks can be issued against an acre of land while a farmer can get bardana against a maximum of 20 acres. To get bardana, a farmer has to produce the record of his land issued by the patwari concerned.

According to data obtained by Dawn, so far 277 farmers have applied for the provision of bardana from the wheat procurement centre in Chakwal.

“To accommodate 277 farmers the target should be at least 3200 tons,” said the food department official.

But farmers are of the view that the wheat purchase target for Chakwal should be 5000 tons.

“Most farmers could not sell their wheat to the government due to the insufficient target and they are left with no other option but to sell the commodity to traders at cheaper price,” said Mumtaz Kahout, a progressive farmer from Janga village.

“The irony is that 5000 tons of purchase target has been fixed for the whole Rawalpindi division,” he added.

“We appeal to the government for enhancing the wheat purchase target so that farmers could get benefit,” said Abdul Sattar, another farmer.

The wheat has been cultivated in an estimated area of 283,000 acres in Chakwal and more than 250,000 tons of production is expected.

“Last year the Chakwal Food Department bought 1700 tons of wheat (17000 sacks) from farmers but it had to import over 150,000 more sacks from other districts to fulfil the need of the district,” an official said. He added that by exporting wheat from other districts the government had to spend more than Rs25 million as the carriage expenses.

On the other hand, private traders have started fleecing the farmers by buying wheat at a cheaper rate from them. The government has fixed Rs1300 per kg as support price for wheat but the traders are buying it from the farmers at Rs1100 to Rs1150 per kg. Besides offering lower price the traders also deduct commission.

When contacted, District Food Controller Mian Mohammad Nawaz Daal claimed that the target for Chakwal may be enhanced. “This is the early stage of wheat harvesting. We would reconsider the purchase target if the need is felt,” he claimed.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2017