Food Deputy Director Anjum Sardar said on Monday 426,372 gunny bags had been distributed among farmers of the Faisalabad division in four days of the wheat procurement campaign 2013.
He said the campaign was formally launched from April 25. He said the Food Department had been directed to purchase wheat with no more than 10 per cent moisture. He said moisture meters had been provided at all wheat procurement centres. He said the growers should bring clean wheat to the centres. He said the campaign was being monitored strictly.
According to Anjum Sardar, “1,975,350 acres were under wheat cultivation the previous year in the Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot and Toba Tek Singh districts. The Food Department achieved only 76 per cent of wheat procurement target in 2012. This year, wheat was cultivated on 1,959,350 acres in the Faisalabad division. The Food Department has raised the procurement target by 40 per cent”.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2013.