The Corporation had been assigned a task to procure about 900,000 metric tons of the wheat during crop season 2017-18 in order to fulfill the domestic requirements of the staple foods as well as to keep the strategic food reserves of the country, said an official of PASSCO.

Talking to APP on Monday, he said that about 329,000 metric tons of wheat procured from the Punjab as the government has established 205 procurement centers across the province in order to facilitate the growers to sell their produces at official fixed rates, he added.

Meanwhile, he said that during the current campaign so far about 82,000 metric tons of the commodity was procured from the Sindh province as 15 procurement centers were also established in the province to save the farmers from the exploitation of the middleman and providing them the proper price of their output.

About 26,000 metric tons of the wheat were procured from the Balochistan Province where 8 centers were established to procure the commodity, he added.

He in Punjab about 510,000 metric tons of sacks (5.94) million bags were distributed among farmers with the help of land revenue department and sacks distribution was still in progress for facilitating them to pack and store their output in a suitable environment.

Meanwhile, in Sindh about 97,000 metric tons of sacks (0.970) million have been distributed and 32,000 metric tons of bags (0.320) million were provided to farmers of Balochistan, he added.