HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent directive to the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco) to increase wheat procurement target from 1.4m to 1.8m tonnes in view of pressing grain procurement issue would not be much beneficial to Sindh’s farmers.

Harvesting of wheat crop in upper and lower Sindh regions has either completed or is nearing completion. Sindh government had decided to procure 0.9m tonnes of wheat whose production estimates indicate that the province’s yield is 4.2m to 4.3m tonnes this year.

Sindh’s grain production figures clearly reflect a bumper wheat crop. These figures don’t necessarily include wheat production from fertile riverine areas, where it is grown on a large scale. Sindh food department, until last week or so, had procured 355,000 tonnes of wheat at a support price of Rs4,000 per 40kg. Procurement target in Sindh remained on lower side in view of reports of available carryover stocks (imported) when compared with last year’s target of 1.4m tonnes. It was yet to be seen whether the department would be able to achieve its procurement target as decided by the Sindh cabinet. It was not met in the recent past.

Production cost

“This year farmers have invested heavily in wheat crop by spending more money on buying expensive urea fertilizer, besides bearing increased electricity tariff in tube well operation,” says Ishaq Mughairi, a representative of the Sindh Abadgar Board from Qambar-Shahdadkot district. According to him, crop has been harvested though it is lying in fields for thrashing or transportation to market.

“The committee meant for disbursement of bardana (gunny bags) remained ineffective as supplies mostly went to those who have some political clout,” he said, adding that right up to Punjab’s border, wheat crop remained healthy and massive and resultantly market’s rates did not go farmers’ way.

Mughairi attributes impressive wheat production to last year’s support price of Rs4,000 per 40kg. “Since the support price was enhanced last year, farmers opted for wheat cultivation even giving up sowing onion and sugar cane, but only to face disappointment,” he said.

No procurement by Punjab

As Punjab government did not begin procurement of wheat even until recently, this led to an outcry and protests from farmers. The PM directed Passco to increase wheat procurement target from 1.4m to 1.8m tonnes in addition to procurement by the provinces. Punjab government had announced Rs3,900 per 40kg support price but did not start procurement.

“Passco’s procurement in Sindh is always delayed and is proportionally at a lower side; the announcement to increase target will not be of any advantage to Sindh,” contended SAB President Mahmood Nawaz Shah.

Sindh’s crop, according to him, has already been harvested with farmers mostly selling their crop in open market at lower rates as procurement ha begun belatedly.

Growers’ dilemma

“Farmers need cash flows for their Kharif crops expenses so they can’t wait much for government to start procuring wheat from them and that, too, without hassle,” he remarked.

A former Sindh food secretary opined that Passco’s procurement has to be in line with proportion of grain production in Sindh but it had been seen that no specific formula was applied in this regard. “Passco normally lifts around 20pc of its own procurement target from Sindh. However, by and large Passco’s procurement remains Punjab-specific,” he said.

When wheat crop cultivation had begun last year, farmers had raised the issue of urea fertiliser, a vital input, which was not available in open market at controlled rates and farmers were paying unusually high price for 100kg urea fertiliser bag. They claimed that this would increase their overall input cost.

Expensive fertiliser

Lahore-based Pakistan Kissan Ittehad had in a press release lately reminded government that in 2023, farmers had paid Rs300bn over and above minimum retail price (MRP) fixed by fertiliser industry to ‘market exploiters’ on account of black marketing of urea and government failed to implement its writ to ensure availability of urea on the prescribed MRP.

“Despite failures, farmers ensured national food security by increasing area under wheat cultivation and per acre productivity thus ensuring total national production of over 29m tonnes – a record high production,” PKI President Khalid Mehmood Khokhar said. He urged government to start procurement of 2m tonnes of wheat to stabilise wheat prices at Rs3,900 per 40kg in Punjab, which contributes over 75pc to national wheat production.

Tyrannical nexus

Besides unfair distribution of bardana in Sindh, the decades-old nexus of traders, middlemen and food officials actually gobbles up the differential amount of support price and open market rate. Farmers keep running from pillar to post to get bardana but they could not get it.

A Sindh food official, however, candidly admitted that wheat procurement operation was indeed a mess in Sindh. “This must stop now or replaced with a more efficient system that could benefit farmers directly. Why should government bear the burden of accumulating mark-up over crop’s storage and transportation,” he remarked.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2024