HYDERABAD, Nov 23 Growers of Sindh have called for removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers by the US government for developing countries including Pakistan as according to them these were affecting agricultural economy.

This was one of the issues raised before US Consul-General Mr Stephen G. Fakan here on Monday at a briefing held at the residence of Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) general secretary Mahmood Nawaz Shah.

The US consul-general was told that if Pakistan availed opportunities, it could increase Rs532 billion in the GDP.

He was told that it was due to lack of investment by growers and the government that yield gap was not being achieved.

Since growers always fear that they would not get reasonable price for their produce, they appear reluctant to invest next time. The diplomat was told that last year Sindh's growers suffered losses of Rs7 billion in paddy crop due to poor procurement policy.

The growers' representative said 10 per cent of certified seed was available against its demand while Sindh got only 10 per cent of agriculture credit, though it contributed 24 per cent in the country's agriculture. Agriculture credit must be commensurate with Sindh's contribution. Agriculture sector needs Rs750 billion while only R260 billion are given.

He was told that water distribution problems were inter-provincial and intra-provincial in nature and had a direct bearing on agriculture sector. Abrupt shortage of urea, adulterated seed, poor infrastructure were some of the main problems.

He was told that Pakistan could only export a limited quantity of cotton to the US while fruits and vegetables were disallowed in the market due to stricter conditions. It obviously led to impacts on agriculture economy of the developing countries. International subsides of $273 billion were being given by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries in agriculture sector.

The US consul-general was told that the government mostly did not take stakeholders on board on various issues.

Price support mechanism was not made effective and not given due consideration before harvest of crops with the result that whole system did not get kicked-off.

Sindh Abadgar Board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani said that Pakistan spent $2.75 billion on edible oil import which could be controlled.

He said that post harvest losses in horticulture sector that used to be 35 per cent were 40 to 50 per cent as per latest figures.

He called for controlling post-harvest losses and 45 per cent losses in water.