HYDERABAD, Sept 28: The Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed grave concern over the fast dwindling prices of crops and disastrous effect on the agriculture sector of Sindh due to wrong and unrealistic policies of the government.
In a statement faced to Dawn here on Wednesday, board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani said that prices of crops were going down with every passing day whereas prices of agricultural inputs were increasing due to wrong policies of the government.
He said free import policy of the government was having a devastating effect on the agriculture sector of Sindh.
Mr Nizamani said that it is an irony that six years back in 1999, rice was being sold at the rate of Rs350 per 40kg, but today this crop is being sold at the rate of Rs250 to Rs270 per 40kg.
He said this was in spite of the fact that in 1999, the price of diesel was Rs9.50 per litre while the price of urea was Rs270 per bag. He said, today the price of diesel is Rs35 per litre and of urea Rs525 per bag. He wondered whether the government also wanted to import rice like other food items.
The SAB president demanded that a committee comprising representatives of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan, TCP, EPB, exporters, food and agriculture department, growers and rice millers should be constituted to resolve the rice crisis.
He demanded of the government that keeping in view the increase in prices of diesel and other agricultural inputs, the minimum price of rice should be fixed at Rs400 per 40kg.
He cautioned the government that if the rice crises were not solved, growers will be left with no money to cultivate wheat and the government will have to spend millions of dollars on the import of this staple food.
He said that onion, tomato and chilli crops have already been harvested and are available in the market in abundance. Therefore, he demanded, the import of onion and other items from India should be stopped forthwith.
He expressed the hope that the government will take practical and positive steps to save the agrarian economy of the country and Sindh.
DEMO: A large number of traders under the banner of All Hyderabad Traders Action Committee staged a protest demonstration outside the Hyderabad Press Club on Wednesday against the “shoe fair” and also observed token hunger strike.
Speaking on the occasion, Saleem Hussain Vohra and others called upon the authorities to direct the outsiders to wind up the shoe fair in Hyderabad.
They said due to the cheap shoe fair the business of the local shoe manufacturers and merchants was being destroyed.
They warned that if this demand was not accepted, the business community will be compelled to launch a protest movement against the authorities.
ENTRANCE TEST: The Institute of Business Administration, University of Sindh, announced the results of entrance test here on Wednesday.
The test had been conducted for the evening MBA classes of the year 2005-06.
