HYDERABAD, June 28: The Sindh Abadgar Board has demanded that livestock, dairy farming, forestry and fish farming should be given special attention as these sub-sectors contribute more than 30 per cent in the agriculture sector.

In a statement on Monday, the board's president Majeed Nizamani said that by supporting these sub-sectors of agriculture the government could eradicate poverty from the rural areas.

He said that the improvement in the macro indicators had not trickled down to the agriculture sector as only 2.5 per cent growth had been recorded in the sector. Mr Nizamani said that Sindh being the lower riparian, was the worst sufferer not only on account of water availability, but also drainage which was being dumped in its fresh-water lakes and fields.

Mr Nizamani said that Rs66 billion allocation for lining of watercourses would be increased in coming years to conserve water. He complained that hundreds of employees hired by authorities concerned for the lining of watercourses belonged to one district.

He said that there was also a need of 6,000 land-levellers in Sindh alone which would precisely level the land in four years. He said that there was an increase of more than 50 per cent in prices of agricultural inputs and added that with stagnant crop yield and scarcity of water, the farmers continued to suffer.

He said that only those tractors had been allowed for import that were not used in Pakistan. He suggested that the import of tractors should be allowed in other categories also. He said that difference in the local market at the producer's end and retail price was 100 per cent which was not more than 15 per cent in other countries.

He recalled that in order to eliminate the middlemen system, the government had earmarked shops for growers in fruit and vegetable markets but the policy had not been implemented though in some cities the growers have already paid full prices for plots and shops.