MIRPURKHAS, Feb 17: Farmers in Jhuddo taluka of Mirpurkhas district have started harvesting of wheat crop and the produce is expected to reach the market in 10 days.

After an increase in the wheat support price by the federal government, farmers in the area were motivated to sow more wheat and the district agriculture department launched a campaign, “grow more wheat”. Hence, wheat crop was sown at an area of 150,000 acres in the district.

The harvesting in the area has started earlier than other parts of the country because of the climatic conditions.

Early wheat produce from Mirpurkhas is supplied to local market as well as to Tharparkar, Umerkot and some other districts of the province.

Some farmers in the area have also started booking thrashers for sifting wheat grain from chaff.

Sindh Agriculture Forum chairman Saleem Malkani and some other farmers have urged the Sindh government to ensure supply of irrigation water at tail districts of the Nara canal to save wheat crop. They complained about acute shortage of water in the area.

They called for setting up of wheat procurement centres in Mirpurkhas.

The district food controller of Mirpurkhas, Nasrullah Chandio, said that arrangements had been finalised to establish 33 wheat procurement centres in Mirpurkhas and Umerkot districts. However, he added, the department was facing a shortage of gunny bags and their purchasing from factories in Punjab was in process. He said the gunny bags available in government godowns would be used to buy early wheat produce of taluka Jhuddo.

He said wheat would be purchased at the rate of Rs950 per 40kg and target for Mirpurkhas and Umerkot districts was 800,000 wheat bags.

PLOT: Mirpurkhas DCO Ghulam Hussain Memon while taking notice of encroachment on an amenity plot in the Gulshan-e-Rehmania colony, has directed the EDO of revenue to submit a report in 24 hours.

The DCO directed the EDO Bachal Rahepoto to contact Taluka municipal officer in this regard. If the matter was in litigation, it should be pursued in the court concerned.

Sources said the plot was marked in the map of the colony as a place for park. It was occupied by a person reportedly through fake revenue entries. Later, an inquiry conducted by the then DDO revenue of Mirpurkhas, Aijazul Hassan Siddique, found the revenue entries as fake. The occupier approached a court which dismissed his plea.

The occupier has built a market on the plot.

The TMA, Mirpurkhas, did not take notice of the matter.

TRAINING: The training of first batch of the food technology course under the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme has been completed at the Sindh Horticulture research institute.

A team headed by Taj Mohammad Baloch, the in-charge of the food technology programme, conducted examination of the trainees.

According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, project director Nazeeran Leghari and EDO finance Syed Zakir Hussain Shah inspected the examination process.