LARKANA, April 11: The Sindh Hari Abadgar Board (SHAB) on Wednesday demanded that the government should revise upwards the wheat procurement target keeping in view bumper wheat production this year in the province.

Speaking at a press conference SAHB President Haji Abdul Majeed Shaikh said that the government’s target for procuring 0.7 million tons of wheat was too little.

Flanked by other office-bearers of the board, he proposed that the federal government should ensure purchase of wheat at official rate by establishing PASSCO centres in each district of the country.

The wheat production in Larkana region alone which included Larkana, Shikarpur, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Jacobabad and Kashmor districts had exceeded 0.6 million tons cultivated on 0.6 million acres of land, he said and added whereas the Sindh government had fixed a target of purchasing only 50,000 tons from this region.

It would inflict colossal losses on the farmers because they would be forced to sell out the rest of their wheat in open market at lower rate and would possibly have to bear Rs25 to 30 loss a 40 kilogram, Mr Shaikh said.

He said that this year’s bumper crop of 5 million ton in Sindh required that the federal government should make it binding on Pakistan Trading Corporation to buy entire yield to save growers from losses.

He called for improving research activities at the Agriculture Research Institutes with focus on evolving new varieties to meet growing demands of the country.

The SHAB chief opposed the construction of big dams and underlined the need for revamping the existing system of irrigation to ensure water to the tail end.

He demanded that the government should enhance the procurement rate of IRRI-6 from Rs320 to Rs450 per 40 kilograms and subsidy on agriculture machinery should be increased from 50 per cent to 60 per cent.