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Middlemen not growers get wheat supply priority

REAZ AHMAD
The government has asked food officials to buy wheat from traders -- a departure from its own policy of procuring wheat directly from the growers.
The change of policy on internal wheat procurement has surprised all concerned including the food officials who have last year's scam over procuring low-grade Indian wheat from a section of politically
linked-up traders still fresh in their memories.
Sources now fear that if wheat is procured from traders, the basic principle of public foodgrain procurement policy would be compromised and farmers deprived of government-provided price support.
This year's internal wheat procurement drive began on March 15 and is scheduled to run
through June. But after spending almost two-thirds of the procurement period, the government could procure only 66,000 tonnes of wheat, out of a slashed down target of 2 lakh tonnes.
Keeping in view last year's wheat scam, the government declared a new wheat procurement policy at the beginning of this year's procurement season, cautioning food officials against buying wheat from old stock and non-
farmers.
"Wheat shall be procured from home-grown fresh stock (grown in 2003) and from real growers," reads the new wheat procurement policy introduced this year replacing the earlier one, which had no clear restriction on purchase of wheat from non-growers and old lots.
The sudden change in the procurement policy, allowing food
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officials to procure wheat from non-farmers has raised some questions.
The press reported last year that taking advantage of regulatory loopholes, some traders having strong political backing sold out low-grade Indian wheat to the government silos in connivance with a section of food officials.
As many as eight government officials, including the then secretary of the food ministry and the director general of the food directorate, were made officers on special duty (OSD). Three of them were eventually sent to forced retirement for the irregularities in wheat procurement involving Tk 90 crore. The prime minister admonished one of her party lawmakers for his alleged involvement in the scam.
Amid growing public uproar, two separate official probe bodies, formed at the directives of the prime minister and the food ministry, investigated the scam and submitted their reports to the government. But the findings of the probe bodies have not been revealed by the government.
Food Minister Abdullah Al Noman told The Daily Star yesterday, "As there is no wheat stock left with the farmers now, we're allowing procurement from traders. "
The minister, however, brushed aside any possibility of irregularities in procuring wheat from non-farmers. "We'll pursue the same policy in procuring wheat from traders as we did in case of procurement from farmers, that is, no trader will be allowed to sell more than 5
tonnes of wheat to the procurement centres. "
The government enhanced the wheat procurement price from Tk 9,000 a quintal last year to Tk 9,250 this year and if wheat is procured from traders, wheat growers would be deprived of the benefit of government-provided price support.
The government's failure to achieve the procurement target in the last aman season and drying up of food aid have made the current wheat procurement drive all the more important, as filling up of the depleted food reserves in the granaries would depend on its success, explained the food officials.
As against the procurement target of two lakh tonnes, the government could hardly procure 20,000 tonnes of aman paddy. The government has barely 2 to 2.5 lakh tonnes of food reserves as the United States diverted some of its previously committed food aid to drought-hit Africa and domestic production of aman and wheat was lower than projected.
To replenish the stock, the government is going to float fresh international tenders for importing two lakh tonnes of rice and wheat.
Despite the poor stock in public granaries, the government slashed down this year's internal wheat procurement target by one third, from three lakh tonnes to two lakh tonnes.
According to the latest field report of the agriculture ministry, wheat output stood at 14.95 lakh tonnes, 2.55 lakh tonnes less than the projected production of 17.50 lakh tonnes.