LAHORE, April 16: The Punjab government on Monday decided to start the wheat procurement drive from April 23 which would continue till the `availability of last grain’. According to a department official, gunny bags’ distribution would start by April 20 and no one would be given more than 100. “The policy is aimed at benefiting small farmers who often complain of lack of gunny bags,” he said.

The chief minister, the official said, had also allowed the department to “increase the price should the need arises in due course of procurement.”

Answering a question, he said the exact margin of the price increase had not been discussed. “It will depend on the market situation.”

Commenting on the logic of delaying procurement by 13 days (the government had earlier announced to do so from April 10), the official said cold and wet March had delayed the crop maturity by at least a week.

According to departmental calculations, the crop arrival would pick up in a week’s time. “That will be the time when the department should enter the market,” he said.

Without denying sporadic arrival of crop in the market, especially in the southern part of the province, the official said that it was less than one per cent of the entire crop.

“Some individual farmers may have harvested it for their own consumption or for the local millers. But the crop has not hit the market as it normally does by mid-April.”

The farmers however term the delay lethal especially for the southern belt.

“Price has already come down in the southern parts and sliding by the day,” says Farooq Bajwa of the Farmers Associates.

According to him, it had already gone down to Rs390 per 40 kg and would certainly slide further in a week’s time. “Selling the crop at this stage means a loss of Rs35,000 if one has around 1,500 maunds of harvest.”

Bajwa said middlemen were purchasing wheat at Rs390 and selling it to the millers at around Rs410 per 40kg - a profit of Rs20 per 40kg.

According to Mr Bajwa, farmers could not hold the harvest for lack of storage and risk of theft.

The Kissan Board Pakistan meanwhile alleged on Monday that influential farmers were already getting gunny bags though there was no formal announcement for their release.

“Those close to departmental officials have also received gunny bags,” it claimed in a statement.