September 29, 2003	Monday	Sha’aban 2, 1424

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LAHORE, Sept 28: Contrary to official claims, the farmer bodies claimed on Sunday that heavy pest attack, dearth of pesticides and availability of spurious drugs had hit them hard.

“The country may miss the target of 11.5 million bales of cotton this year,” they said.

The Punjab agriculture secretary , while agreeing to the shortage of two, out of the nine pesticides, conceded that there might be a slight drop in the final cotton yield. He attributed the loss to the complexity of the crop rather than mismanagement on part of the department.

The farmers claimed that the crop was generally attacked by spotted bollworm, army worm, heliothus and, in some areas, cotton leaf curl virus. The combined attack of pests, and unavailability of the essential pesticides had exposed the crop to the danger of substantially reduced yield. The pesticides are imported in February and March every year.

Successive governments had failed to formulate a balanced import policy, said the farmers, who alleged that these fell a victim to the propaganda of the multinationals and did not take any input from the farmer bodies. This, they said, had resulted in the formation of a lopsided import of pesticides. The companies imported only those drugs, which financially suited them, without taking the needs of the farmers into consideration.

On top of all, they said, there was 45 to 49 per cent drop in the use of phosphate this year due to increase in its price. “The DAP helps develop resistance against pest attacks, and its reduction may put extra pressure on the crop and result in shortfall,” they feared.

“The current year was a wet one,” said Ibrahim Mughal of the Pakistan Kissan Board. The wetness (in atmosphere) caused extra vegetative growth and humidity during the pest attack, he said, adding that both should have been checked in time by the government.

Ironically, the agriculture department kept advertizing for the use of fertiliser, which boost vegetative growth and pest attack. He claimed that the estimates of the government would fail to enhance yield.

The cotton crop was under a heavy attack of the spotted bollworm, army worm and heliothus. He said the farmers had been struggling to control these due to paucity of pesticides. “The pesticides available are ineffective even after double sprays.”

“There was a sudden pest attack on the crop plus rains this year,” said Rabia Sultan, a member of the Farmers Associates Pakistan. She claimed that these factors made the crop management difficult for the growers.

She regretted that the government kept talking tall about its plans to support the farmers. “It is premature to assess damage likely to affect the crop and its impact on the final yield,” she said.

Shortage of pesticides became a problem at a crucial stage, she said, and added: “Once crop hits the fruiting stage and comes under the pest attack, the farmers are left with no choice but to buy these in black market and spray it. These black-marketeers make fortunes and the farmers have to bear the brunt of the loss.”

Punjab Water Council’s Farooq Bajwa, who is also a cotton grower from southern Punjab, also claimed that spurious pesticides had proved a bane of farmers. “The growers have no choice, but to take chance with whatever is available.”

Going for the lesser evil, he said, “we have to use spurious drugs, which are of no value to the farmers.”

He said the government took decisions while knowing nothing about ground realities.

A pesticide importer claimed that as the wheat crop was weak last year, the farmers did not have money to make advance payment for the import of pesticides. “These cannot be bought off the shelf like other drugs. Importers have to be paid in advance for getting pesticides in time,” he said.

Since the companies did not import pesticides in quantity, spurious version naturally came in to fill the gap.

Talking to Dawn, Punjab Agriculture Secretary Arif Nadeem said the pesticide business was being handled by private sector. Two conglomerates of private companies handled it along with the inventory management.

“The government keeps an eye on these through the Cotton Crop Management Group that meets every fortnight to discuss data collected by the department on union council level and directs the private companies,” he said.

He conceded that there was shortage of two pesticides because of excessive rains, which kept washing away the spray and enhanced its consumption. Heavy rains in the late August and early September made the crop spin out of the control to some extent.

However, the pest could be controlled in the current weather conditions. The department, he said, had substantially increased its pest scouting points.

Responding to a question, the secretary claimed that there would be decline in the cotton yield, but not as much as the growers had been portraying.