ISLAMABAD: Wheat procurement drive is in full swing in Punjab as 856,000 tonnes of the commodity has so far been procured, said an official of the food department while talking to APP.
“The food department has already achieved 25 per cent of its 3.5 million tonnes target since launching the drive to buy grains since April 15,” he said.
More than 51 percent of gunny bags have been distributed and the food department has procured 855,934 tonnes of wheat which is 21.29 per cent of its target.
Some 1.8 million tonnes of gunny bags have so far been distributed, said an official of the Food department Punjab.
The daily arrival of wheat reached as many as 133,000 tonnes on Thursday, up from 90,000 tonnes a day earlier. Harvesting picks momentum in central Punjab as well as in South Punjab, the daily arrival would pick up the pace, he said.
It is pertinent to mention that the quantum of the arrival of wheat in the next few days will also indicate the crop size. The country has not crossed 25 million tonnes in the last three years, with Punjab sticking around 18 million tonnes.
South Punjab, where farmers have been reporting five to ten maund improvement on last year’s yield, the government was paying at a rate of Rs1,800 per maund, he said and added that wheat production mechanism in Punjab was much improved this year.
