The government of Punjab has decided not to buy wheat from farmers, Daily Jung has reported.
According to sources in Punjab Food Department, 22 lakh 70 thousand tons of wheat is lying in warehouses, while loans of 350 billion have to be returned. Punjab has one year’s worth of wheat, so how can it buy more? Every year, 125 billion rupees is given as markup on the purchase of wheat, while storing and handling wheat costs more than one billion rupees.
Sources in the Food Department have claimed that 95% of farmers’ wheat has been sold, the middlemen have raised noise by taking the name of farmers.
On the other hand Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur has said that this year they are not buying wheat from PASSCO (Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation), they will buy wheat directly from Punjab’s farmers.
