OKARA/DERA GHAZI KHAN: Like the other areas of the province, wheat growers in Okara district and Dera Ghazi Khan division are also lamenting heavy financial losses they are faced with because of the flawed wheat procurement policy of the Punjab government.

The farmers in Okara district mainly blame the food department and Pakistan Agriculture and Storage Service Corporation (Passco) high-ups and supervisory staff for their plight.

The affected growers says that the Punjab food department had, at the start of April, directedwheat growers to apply for ‘bardana’ (gunny bags) and later also launched ‘Bardana App’, which seldom became operational.

As per official sources, Okara district food department received more then 22,000 applications from wheat growers for issuance of gunny bags, but only 428 were approved by the authorities concerned.

Meanwhile, the growers allege that none of these 428 applicants have been provided gunny bags, while procurement could not be started in Dipalpur and Renala Khurd tehsil areas yet.

This correspondent also visited the Passco local offices, where a staffer said on condition of anonymity that the corporation had set a procurement target of 55,000 matric tonnes (MT) for tesils of the district, setting up 11 centre for the purpose.

However, he said, Passco has so far procured only 6,839.850 matric tonnes of wheat through only two to three centres, while other centres were yet to start procurement.

Dozens of wheat-laden trolleys are parked outside Passco office at suburban village 53/2L waiting to be unloaded.

On the other hand, many growers allege that the Passco authorities had fixed a purchase target of 40,000 100kg bags, especially for 2/L area’s villages, including 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55/2L, where 90 percent of the agricultural land had been consumed by mushrooming housing colonies.

They allege that middlemen (Arhtis) and their agents, in connivance with Passco officials, are purchasing wheat from the distressed farmers at Rs3,200 to Rs3,400 per 40kg, in violation ofofficial price of Rs3,900 per 40kg.

Similarly, in DG Khan division, wheat procurement is yet to commence despite completion of farmers’ registration process for provision of gunny bags.

As per officials, out of 55,635 applications they received for gunny bags in the division, only 11,857 have been accepted.

Giving a breakdown, they says that in Dera Ghazi Khan district, out of 13,393 farmers’ applications for gunny bags, only 3,697 were accepted, in Rajanpur, out of 14,164 only 2,720 were accepted, while in Muzaffargarh district, out of 20,530 applications, only 3,709 met the eligibility criteria.

Meanwhile, the procurement centres in these districts are lying deserted as the food department has failed to initiate wheat purchase.

The local farmers are expressing resentment over the delay in procurement, which is forcing them to sell their grain at lower rates to middlemen, flour mill owners, and seed and fertiliser dealers.

They say the middlemen are purchasing wheat at a rate of Rs3,000 per 40kg, causing massive financial losses to the growers as the per acre expenditure, from sowing to harvesting, was around over Rs100,000.

Farmers lament that they find themselves in a dire situation, as they had to pay outstanding bills for the seed, fertilizers etc, adding that selling the grain at lower rates will leave them in a huge crisis.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2024