LAHORE: Acknowledging that wheat crop this year may not come up to the mark, the Punjab government has announced measures for meeting its procurement target of 4.5 million tonnes.

Provincial Food Minister Samiullah Chaudhry told a press conference here on Thursday that the province could produce 19 million tonne wheat but untimely heavy rains and other weather conditions might negatively impact the grain yield this year.

He said as per the economic coordination council decision, the wheat procurement price has been raised to Rs1,400 from Rs1,300 per 40kg.

The government has decided to go for early procurement drive, particularly in the districts bordering Sindh province where the crop ripened earlier, he said in an indirect hint to fears that poor yield could trigger in economic and political crises in the country.

He said the government has done away with the condition of producing gurdawari (a revenue department document) by the growers at the wheat procurement centres while dues payment system has also been simplified by disbursing dues to small growers at the centres. The minister said they were also trying to open booths of banks at the centres where bank branches were at far off places.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2020