They also urged the government to immediately announce whether it is going to procure wheat during the next season and what would be the procurement target in presence of a stock of 60 million wheat bags in storages of the Punjab and Sindh food departments and with the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Company (PASSCO).
Punjab Water Council's Chairman Farooq Bajwa while talking to Business Recorder on Tuesday said that wheat support price was Rs 625 per maund in year 2009 when the dollar was of Rs60. The prices were increased to Rs 950 per maund due to struggle of farmers which were later increased to Rs 1000 per maund in 2011, Rs 1200 in 2012 and Rs 1300 per maund in 2013. He said that dollar worth was Rs90 in 2013 and now it had reached over Rs135 and being pitched at Rs150 in 2019.
He said wheat prices were stagnant for the last five years while value of Pakistani rupee had declined by 50 percent which means that the buying power of the growers had also decreased by half because of not allowing them any hike in their produce price. Similarly, he said during this period input prices had also increased by 50 percent adding further financial burden on the growers. He questioned that how slogan of a prosperous farmers could be materialized when they are not getting proper rate of their hard labour.
Bajwa said wheat was sown over 1,700,000 acres of land in Punjab alone and they did not know whether the government would buy their next produce or not. He also claimed that wheat support price is always acknowledged in government procurement only and price in the open market remains lower than that.
He was of the view that Pakistani wheat is 25 percent higher in gluten and protein than the US and European wheat and it should be given more prices that the international prices which were fixed keeping in view the quality of US grains. He was of the view that if the government wanted to remain self sufficient in wheat it should fix the wheat procurement price at Rs 1800 per maund.
Similar views were expressed by Sindh Abaadgaar Board President Majeed Nizamani who was also curious about what would be the procurement target of the provincial governments for the next wheat season.
Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) Central Secretary Information Haji Muhammad Ramzan while talking to this scribe also regretted that the government was unable to give any procurement policy yet.
He also dubbed the Rs 1300 per maund rate as insufficient and said that it should be fixed at least at Rs 1500 per maund. He claimed that sowing of wheat would be reduced this year as the sugar mills were yet to start the crushing season due to which fields were not empty for the next sowing.