The mess in Sindh

By Saleem Shaikh



THE sale of gunny bags to traders meant for growers, interference by influentials and rampant corruption have messed up the Sindh food department’s drive for wheat procurement.
Wheat growers complain that food officials are giving gunny bags only to those who have the backing of local government officials and politicians and not to small growers. Millions of gunny bags have already been sold out to local traders and stockists at a premium pocketed by officials.

“This situation has created an artificial shortage of gunny bags, while harvested wheat is lying under the open sky,” says Akhund Ghulam Mohammad, general secretary of Sindh Agriculture Chamber (SCA). A change in weather or rainfall can damage the crop, he added.

The situation has sparked growers’ protests and rallies, and they are staging sits-in and blocking vehicular traffics at different places on the national highways in various parts of the province.

Protests in wheat-growing areas over non-availability of gunny bags and their alleged sale to local wheat traders have also erupted in clashes between growers and the police resulting in injuries to several farmers.

Throughout last week, the enraged growers in Hyderabad, Sanghar, Naushero Feroz, Khairpur, Ghotki, Larkana and Dadu, districts held protest demonstrations.

Several growers told this scribe over telephone that availability of gunny bags is no better in upper Sindh. Though gunny bags were available at procurement centres in some parts of Khairpur Mirs, Sukkur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Khairpur, these were being given to local wheat traders, shopkeepers, and influential landlords by food department officials deployed at procurement centres, they said.

Responding to growers’ mounting complaints against food department officials, police raided traders’ godowns and recovered millions of gunny bags illegally sold to traders.

“A local police party raided a godown of a trader Yaseen Solangi in Ubaro taluka and recovered more than 1,000 gunny bags illegally purchased from area food officials,” said Syed Sadiq Ali Shah Bukhari, a local wheat grower.

He also alleged that sufficient stock of gunny bags was sent to the district food inspector by the provincial food department, but it was sold out to local traders. As a result, Ghotki district was now short of gunny bags and local growers were facing its acute shortage, remarked Syed Sadiq Shah.

Some 1.9 million gunny bags were to reach 38 procurement centres in Khairpur Mirs district but they have not been delivered at most of the centres while wheat is lying under open sky at the mercy of birds, weather and rain, said Ghulam Mustafa Jaskani.

“It is now being felt that local traders hands in gloves with political influential have decided to fail the wheat procurement drive by creating artificial shortage of gunny bags, so that the hapless farmers are left with no option but to sell their produce cheaper to local traders involved in wheat smuggling to Afghanistan and other bordering countries,” says an official in the provincial food department.

“Several food department officials in different districts have been suspended on charges of corruption and inquiries have been instituted against them. Punitive actions would be taken against them if the allegations proved correct,” said an official responsible for monitoring of wheat procurement drive.

He recalled that six food inspectors of Sanghar district had been suspended for committing irregularities. The growers had complained that these six food officials were involved in selling gunny bags meant for growers to local traders at Rs90100 per bag.

Reports of deliberate delay in wheat procurement from small growers continued to pour in from various districts and efforts were being made on fast track basis to address them appropriately, he told this scribe.

In some districts including Shikarpur, the food department officials are asking growers to pay Rs112 per bag in advance for procurement of wheat, which the growers’ leaders has termed illegal.

Naveed K. Baloch, Sindh food secretary, admits that some corrupt officials were depriving the hapless growers of gunny bags, which has brought disrepute to his department, but all-out efforts were being made to ensure maximum fairness and transparency in wheat procurement drive.

“We are also trying to address the complaints and grievances of local growers, particularly smaller ones, telling procurement officials to make wheat purchase from growers hassle-free,” provincial food secretary told this scribe.

Around 15 million gunny bags would be needed by the food department to pick up 1.5 million tons of wheat directly from the growers.

The provincial food secretary, who is hopeful that despite all odds the 1.5 million ton wheat procurement target would be met, told this scribe that so far eight hundred thousand bags have been made available at 340 procurement centres all over Sindh, whereas more than 0.7 million ton wheat has been procured from growers.

A good thing is that not a single complaint regarding payment problems has been lodged by growers so far.