In order to facilitate the grain producers to sell their produces at official fixed rates. Pakistan agriculture storage and Services Corporation has established about 230 wheat procurement centers across wheat growing areas in country by PASSCO.
Muhammad Khan Khichi Managing Director PASSCO said that a center has been set up in order to initiate the wheat procurement campaign for the crop season 2018-19, besides facilitating the farmers, protecting them from the exploitation of middlemen and providing them with better price for their produces.
He said that in order to facilitate the growers across the crop producing areas of provinces the whole country has divided into zones for enhancing the outreach of the corporation.
To make the campaign more effective and transparent PASSCO has established 230 procurement centers in these zones with close coordination of the allied departments of the provinces.
To encourage farmers to sell their produces at the nearest wheat procurement centers of the corporation that PASSCO has divided the Punjab Province into 11 zones, where as it has established two zones in Sindh and one in Baluchistan provinces respectively.
In order to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as for keeping the strategic reserves for the country that PASSCO would procure about 900,000 tons of wheat during current wheat procurement campaign, where as the food departments of the respective provinces would also procure the grains.
About 90 millions bag would be distributed by the corporation among the framers and in order to maintain the transparency the PASSCO has devised a new mechanism and policy to eliminate the involvement of local administration in the distribution process, he remarked.
Muhammad Khan further informed that this year application has been invited by PASSO to the farmers for sacks and list would be prepared based on these applications and these lists would be opened on given date and time.