LAHORE: One of the most uncertain, difficult and politically risky wheat procurement campaigns starts in Punjab on Saturday (today) and the provincial food department has asked farmers to start applying for gunny bags through the Bardana App.

According to the department spokesman, applications are being received on the Bardana App, prepared by the Punjab Information Technology Board, and the process will run through for the next four days – till April 17 – and will receive confirmation through the same application after verification by the Land Record Authority.

Distribution of gunny bags will start on April 19, which will be served on a first-come, first-served basis and the purchase would start on April 22. All the arrangements for the purchase of wheat at the district level have been completed and the food department has established 393 wheat purchase centres across the province, the spokesman said and added that purchase would be at a fixed price of Rs3,900 per 40kg, while delivery charges of Rs30 per 100kg will be paid to each farmer in addition to the price of wheat. To protect the small farmer, the eligibility for bardana acquisition has been kept up to six acres.

According to the policy, flour mills, the private sector and seed companies are also allowed to purchase wheat at fixed rates.

Apart from the official announcement of the beginning of procurement, everything else is uncertain, say farmers across the province.

“This is the first time that the government has not announced how much it is going to purchase – the most crucial factor in stabilizing the wheat market. No one knows how much it is going to buy. With the final figure uncertain, no one knows at what speed it would buy and how would it stabilise the market,” says Muhammad Tufail – a farmer from Sheikhupura.

Farmer bodies have their estimates about the official purchase. They think that with over two million tonnes of carryover, the government would need only two million if its historical average purchase is something to go by. However, given the financial crunch and cost of keeping wheat, the provincial department has been opposing even two million tonnes quantity, sowing another uncertainty in farmers’ hearts and markets.

“It is going be an uncertain situation for farmers. The reports that it is going to be a record crop this year only reinforce our fears,” says a farmer leader who does not want to be named because he is engaged with the Food Department, pleading farmers’ case. With record crop size, the tradable surplus would also record and there would be no one to buy this massive quantity. So, a price crash is the only certainty in the market. How much it crashes is not certain and it would largely depend on the official purchase and its pace, he claims.

“In these circumstances, there is yet another certainty, which is farmers’ protest. If the crash remains within a reasonable limit – set by the investment on crop – the farmers may not take to the streets. However, if the gap between both figures expands to cause losses to farmers, the growers may come out and the government start feeling political heat,” he warns.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2024