Murad Ali Shah orders faster wheat procurement for Rabi 2025-26 in Sindh

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on reviewed wheat procurement for the rabi season 2025-26 and directed the relevant authorities to speed up the process so targets could be met on time.

Chairing a meeting at the Chief Minister’s House, the chief minister was informed that only 1,061.600 tons of wheat had so far been procured across Sindh against a target of 973,900 tons. Murad expressed serious concern over the pace of procurement and instructed the food department to immediately accelerate operations.

During the meeting, he stressed that small farmers should be given priority, particularly those who are receiving subsidies on key agricultural inputs including DAP fertiliser and urea under the Sindh Wheat Growers Support Programme.

Officials also noted that the provincial cabinet had already fixed a wheat procurement target of one million tons and set the support price at Rs3,500 per 40kg. Under the approved policy, wheat is being procured from farmers registered under the subsidy-based wheat support programme.

District-wise performance reviewed

The food minister briefed the chief minister on district-wise procurement figures and said the overall pace remained slow. According to the briefing, some districts had performed relatively better than others.

Jamshoro was cited as showing comparatively stronger progress, while Umerkot, Badin, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas were among the districts where procurement remained limited.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon, Jam Khan Shoro, Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Makhdoom Mehboob-uz-Zaman and Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Mahar, as well as Adviser Gian Chand Essrani, Chief Secretary Asif Haider Shah and senior officials from the relevant departments.

The review meeting focused on the province’s wheat buying campaign for the coming season and the need to improve implementation in line with the targets already approved by the provincial cabinet. The chief minister’s directions centred on increasing the pace of procurement and ensuring that farmers covered under the support programme, especially smaller growers, were facilitated in the process.

The briefing presented to the meeting highlighted a significant gap between the procurement target and the quantity purchased so far, prompting the chief minister to call for immediate action by the food department.