PESHAWAR, May 6: Small farmers on Thursday complained about spiralling prices of agricultural inputs, including insecticides, saying it was hurting yields of many crops grown in the NWFP
, adding that they were facing hardships because of what they called tobacco companies' anti-growers tactics.
"Prices of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides are so high that small farmers cannot afford them and as a result, the local crop yields have registered a drastic decrease since the levy of 15 per cent general sale tax on all sorts of insecticides some two years back," a farmer from Mardan district told Dawn.
He estimated that tobacco crop production in the district had decreased by as much as 20 to 25 per cent because of high insecticide prices. Farmers said that insecticides were vital for protecting vegetable and high-quality tobacco crops from pest attacks.
Tobacco growers, they said, in Mansehra, Buner and Swabi districts were badly hit by the levy of general sales tax. These areas, they said, happened to be the producer of finest tobacco that was exported to many European countries while Swabi was one of the major sources of in the country.
High prices of plant protection compounds had also affected growers in Peshawar, Swat, Dir, Chitral and Mardan districts, who needed fungicides to protect their orchards, maize and wheat crops, farmers said. These areas are main producers of apples and orange and other commodities.
Farmers from these areas also complained about high herbicide prices, saying in the wake of unaffordable cost of inputs, they were unable to secure their wheat, maize, sugarcane and tobacco crops from attacks by weeds, adding that the livelihoods of 80 per cent of the people from these areas was dependent on a host of crop protecting compounds.
Farmers attributed their high costs to their being imported, saying 90 per cent of these products were imported from countries, including the US, Holland, the UK and China.
They informed this correspondent that there were at least 40 companies registered in the NWFP alone which supplied to about 4,000 outlets spread all over the province, adding there was only one government-run manufacturing firm, Stedec which, they said was based in Karachi and was engaged in manufacturing only a few items under the supervision of the PCSIR.
The rest of the items, they said, were imported and marketed after being packaged in Pakistan. Farmers said that their livelihoods mainly depended on a few cash crops like sugarcane, wheat and tobacco, adding they were being allowed to grow tobacco as part of the government's policy to eliminate the poppy cultivation.
Farmers said that as an incentive to growers in these districts, the government had made it compulsory for cigarette manufacturers to buy their produce, adding that lately, they (cigarette manufacturers) had started resorting to what they called 'blackmail tactics'.
These companies, they said, provided farmers with insecticides on loan at a higher prices and deduct the amount at the time of tobacco purchase. Farmers said they always owed to these companies. They say that bulk of their produce go to the tobacco manufacturers in the head of insecticides which these companies provide them.
"If farmers refuse to buy insecticides from these manufacturers then the companies concerned do not buy their produce. So we have to buy these items from them under duress," said a Mansehra-based farmer, adding that many farmers who HAVE struck formal agreement with these companies were also running from pillar to post to get their money paid to them in time.
Most of the times, tobacco growers get paid after a lapse of one year and some times even more, he said, adding that the companies concerned give a specific target to each farmer by which they were bound to buy and pay them as early as possible.
Farmers also complained about high cost of other agricultural inputs such as exaggerated electricity tariff and high prices of seeds, saying rising costs had hit them hard and they were unable to survive.
