LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to maintain 2.5 million metric tonnes of strategic wheat reserves under a public-private partnership (PPP) framework to ensure food security, transparency, and efficient stock management, according to senior officials of the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Department. Secretary Food Safety and Consumer Protection Dr Kiran Khurshid while explaining the future vision of the provincial government here on Thursday said the strategic reserves will be maintained through private sector participation, with the procurement price aligned with the Import Parity Price (IPP) fixed at Rs 3,500 per 40 kilograms. Dr Kiran stated that linking the reserve price with import parity would help maintain market stability and protect both farmers and consumers from price volatility. She said that wheat procurement will be carried out directly from farmers’ farmhouses or at their doorstep to eliminate middlemen. He added that all wheat-related payments and record-keeping will be fully digitalized, while the entire procurement process will be operationalized through digital monitoring to ensure transparency in wheat quality, quantity and timely payments to farmers. Under the new model, private sector aggregators will be pre-qualified and allocated districts following a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Dr Kiran Khurshid explained that aggregators will be selected through competitive bidding based on lower profit margins and reduced financing costs, with preference given to bids offering maximum efficiency. The Secretary further said that aggregators will be responsible for arranging all primary financing. They will be paid a guaranteed profit, capped between 10 percent and 16 percent, along with financing costs capped at KIBOR plus one percent on up to 70 percent of the primary financing. These payments will be made during the supply period from September to March, when the strategic reserves are utilized. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026