October 18, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 24, 1427

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RAHIM YAR KHAN Oct 17: Farmers of Rahim Yar Khan are forced to sell their cotton (phutti) at lower rates because traders are dictating their terms in wake of improved supplies.

The crop hit the local grain market in the second week of September with a price of Rs1,310 per maund. Within a week the price was on the slide — Rs1,175 per maund, then Rs1,135 per maund.

In the beginning of the current month it rose to Rs1,150 but again came down to Rs1,130 to Rs1,150 per maund.

Chaudhry Muhammad Rafiq, a farmer from Kotsamaba who came to sell his cotton in the grain market, said that he had cultivated cotton on 23 acres of land. One acre of the crop cost him from Rs10,000 to Rs13,000.

Since he got 15 maunds yield per acre, Rafiq had to bear losses after selling the commodity at Rs1,150 per maund. “Since we have no facility to store the produce we are constrained to sell it at the low price to fulfill our domestic needs,” he said.

The farmer urged the government that a minimum support should be fixed at Rs2,000 per maund to cover all expenses.

Another farmer Muhammad Shahid said that cotton traders had forced the to bring cotton in cloth bags instead of plastic bags. He said the cloth worth Rs100 was needed to bring two maunds of cotton which was an additional expense for them.

A cotton trader said that most of traders in the grain market were also ginners and they tried to purchase maximum crop at low rates in the months of October and November. After December, he said, they increased its rates from Rs100 to Rs300 per maund to get better return against ginned cotton.

He feared that if cotton rates remained at the same level, farmers might look at other options next time.