Rice growers not getting official price, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The government admitted in the National Assembly on Tuesday its failure to ensure payment of official price to paddy growers in Punjab and Irri-6 farmers in Sindh.

Parliamentary secretary for food and agriculture Liaquat Ali Khan informed the house on a call-attention notice that the government had fixed the price of basmati rice at Rs3,000 per 40kg in Punjab and that of Irri-6 at Rs1,500 per 40kg in Sindh, which the government-appointed millers had failed to pay to the growers.

He said that 6.9 million tons of rice had been produced this year -- 100,000 tons more than last year’s production -- but the procurement target was yet to be met. He assured the house that the government would procure the entire wheat crop at the official price of Rs850 per 40kg.

Earlier, lawmakers Rana Mehmoodul Hasan, Ms Nisar Tanveer, Ms Tahira Aurangzeb, Mohammad Hanif Abbasi and Nighat Parveen Mir complained that Passco was not purchasing rice at prices fixed by the government.

Rana Hasan expressed the fear that the government might also fail to ensure payment of official price to the growers of wheat and other grains.

He said the government policy had only benefited the middle man and farmers were being deprived of their rightful share.

He said the matter should be sent to the house standing committee on food and agriculture to find a solution to the problems.

The government, Liaquat Ali said, had decided to pay Rs2,600 for 40kg bag, instead of Rs3,000, to those millers who had failed to pay the fixed price to the growers.

He said that a new campaign had been launched to meet the procurement target of 0.5 million tons of rice in Sindh, adding that the same target had been almost met by Passco in Punjab.