Due to poor arrangements and inattention by the Food Department Faisalabad, the farmers of the district expressed lack of interest in wheat procurement. Two weeks have passed since the distribution of bardana bags started during the wheat procurement campaign but so far only 25 per cent bardana bags have been distributed while only 7.93 per cent wheat has been procured so far. Farmers accuse the Food Department of creating complications in the wheat procurement process and it is also being made clear that farmers are being forced to sell wheat to private dealers instead of the food department.
In Faisalabad, the Food Department has set up procurement centers at 11 different places across the district for wheat procurement drive for the year 2021. The Punjab government had announced an open door policy to provide relief to the farmers So that the farmers can get the bardana by turning to the direct purchasing centers without any system but claims by the Punjab government and the food department in Faisalabad to provide relief and facilities were limited to words.
The Food Department, Faisalabad, has been given a target of purchasing a total of 110,000 metric tonnes of wheat, but due to inattention and negligence of the district officers, farmers across the district are struggling to sell their wheat to the Food Department. It has been more than 15 days since the Food Department issued Bardana to the farmers but so far only 25% of the Bardana has been provided to the farmers. At the same time, no comprehensive plan has come up for the registration of farmers and cultivators across the district and out of 1500 cultivators, only 924 cultivators have been registered so far while more than 500 farmers are still unaffiliated with the food department.
The food procurement process by the food department is also very slow since only 25 per cent bardana has been released so far in pursuit of the target of purchasing 110,000 metric tonnes of wheat, how is it possible to accelerate wheat procurement? The Food Department of Faisalabad has so far procured only 7.93% wheat. Farmers are being forced to sell their wheat to private dealers as food department officials make the wheat procurement system difficult.
In this regard, several farmers said that instead of the food department selling wheat to dealers in open markets, they are paid directly on the spot without any paperwork. As a result, wheat growers prefer to sell wheat to private dealers rather than the food department. In this situation, due to the fact that wheat is being sold in large quantities to private dealers instead of the food department, the food department has fears of a shortage of wheat in the coming days. In this regard, District Food Controller Tanveer Ahmed clarified that better measures are being taken to meet the target of wheat and efforts are also being made to provide better services and facilities to the farmers.
