BAHAWALNAGAR: Farmers have warned of protest if the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) did not start wheat procurement in Minchinabad and Bahawalnagar tehsils of the district which, they said, had been stopped on the pretext of poor crop quality because of recent rains in the area.

They alleged that Passco was favouring the middlemen and influential growers by not buying wheat from small farmers from Minchinabad and Bahawalnagar tehsils.

They said that because of the unjustified decision by Passco the farmers had been forced to sell their wheat crop to the middlemen, wholesalers and commission agents on credit or on very low rates.

Blame it on nexus between Passco officials, middlemen

They said that taking advantage of the situation, the middlemen and commission agents were exploiting the small farmers in the two tehsils and buying their wheat at lower rates.

Farmers Mian Ejaz Zargar, Abdul Hameed Jutt, Muhammad Sadiq and others blamed a nexus between Passco officials and the “middlemen mafia” for the situation, appealing to the corporation’s director general to take notice of the exploitation and order immediate start of wheat procurement in the district.

Kissan Board district president Mian Nazeer Ahmed said delaying the wheat procurement on the pretext of poor crop quality because of rains, was actually a ploy to benefit the middlemen and the commission agents.

He said because of the delay in procurement by the government, around 60 percent of the farmers had already sold their stocks to the middlemen at lower rates.

Mian Nazeer claimed that the recent rains only partially affected the wheat crop in some areas, but using it as a pretext to stop the purchase of whole crop on thousands of acres in Minchinabad and Bahawalnagar tehsils was unjust and would force the farmers to protest.

Passco official Rao Shoaib said the procurement had been stopped in both tehsils because the quality of the wheat crop had been affected by the rains.

Deputy Director (Agriculture) Maqsood Ahmed told Dawn that according to a survey conducted by the agriculture department, less than 25 percent of the area in the two tehsils had been affected by the rains and the overall wheat quality and per acre yield in the area was better than the previous year.

Director General (marketing) Chaudhry Iftikharuddin admitted there had been delay in wheat procurement, saying consultations were being held on the matter. He hoped that in the next 24 hours the procurement process would be started in the district.

He said only Passco’s Fair Average Quality (FAQ) wheat would be purchased for which centres had been notified.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2019