FAISALABAD, April 7: The wheat marketing policy of the government is not investment-friendly, says a study conducted by the experts of the University of Agriculture.

The study on the wheat market activity in the Punjab, made available to Dawn on Wednesday, said the government policy 'discourages investment by private sector.' It urged the government to permit inter-provincial and inter-district movement of wheat.

It said the wheat distribution system lacked efficient and high quality storage facilities. Losses because of poor storage alone had been about one-third of the total loss of wheat. It suggested that the storage capacity in the public sector should be increased on an emergency basis.

The storage base should be spread to farmers, traders and flour millers' level also. The study recommended that the government should provide facilities to farmers so that they could directly bring their produce to procurement centres. This would eliminate the role of commission agents who exploit farmers.

It asked the government to procure superior quality wheat for export. Priority should be given to the southern region of the Punjab where high quality wheat is produced.

The experts emphasized that the government should establish three laboratories for testing the quality of wheat and flour at Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Karachi under the supervision of the Department of Food Technology of the University of Agriculture.

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