QUETTA: The Balochis­tan government has fixed the support price of wheat at Rs1,650 per 40kg and the procurement target at one million bags for this year.

“We are expecting a better wheat crop during the current year,” Zeeshan Lehri, director general of the provincial food department, told Dawn, adding that Balochistan missed the procurement target last year as it could produce only 860,000 bags of wheat.

Nasirabad division is called the green belt of Balochistan because it has main wheat-producing areas in the province which are irrigated by Indus waters through the Pat Feeder and Kirthar canals. The division comprises Nasirabad, Jaffarabad and Jhal Magsi districts.

Mr Lehri said the government had fixed the wheat procurement target at one million bags, but expressed apprehension about achieving it mainly because the federal and provincial governments had fixed different support prices.

The federal government has announced wheat support price at Rs1,600 per 40kg, while Punjab has fixed it at Rs1,800 and Sindh at Rs2,000.

“Open market price is another hurdle in achieving the target as wheat prices are currently ranging bet­ween Rs1,900 and Rs2,000 per 40kg in the market,” Mr Lehri pointed out. He said black-marketing and hoarding were other reasons for last year’s wheat crisis.

The food department chief said that wheat was available in open market and the government had released monthly quota of flour mills.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2021