Slow wheat procurement could cause another crisis, warn Sindh’s farmers

Karachi (HRNW) The slow pace of the Sindh government’s wheat procurement could create another wheat crisis, growers have warned.

So far, Sindh’s food department has only met 40% of its purchase target of 1.4 million tonnes. The food minister, Hari Ram, has written a letter to officials of the department, including chief and regional food officers, threatening to take action against them if they don’t meet their targets.

Only 400,000 tonnes of wheat has been purchased so far, the minister told the cabinet on Tuesday. When questioned by both the cabinet members and chief minister, Ram said the coronavirus had created issues for them.

But Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told him he didn’t want to hear excuses.

The food department has also written a letter to the government asking for permission to purchase wheat from the open market. When the government does this, it has to buy wheat at higher prices than it would if it bought it directly from farmers.

The burden of that extra cost is then often transferred onto consumers in the form of higher prices.