GUJAR KHAN: Farmers in the Potohar region may not be able to invest in wheat cultivation as expenditures this year have gone up by 60 per cent compared to the last year.

Talking to this correspondent, the farmers said the recent outbreak of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) in the cattle had hit them hard as their income declined drastically and loss of millions of rupees was suffered as many animals died.

Farmers find themselves in limbo as inflated prices of seeds, fertilisers, electricity, diesel and manpower are beyond their means. Besides being affected by the increased cost of living, local farmers have suffered great setbacks in the last few months as their cattle died due to LSD and a lot was spent on their treatment. Income generated by local farmers declined while many have been left with no cattle in their houses.

Mohammad Ishtiaq, a resident of Theekriyan village, said his household used to be run by income generated from selling milk from his two cows but both of them died due to LSD. He said he spent around Rs30,000 on their treatment but it was in vain. He added that he owns a chunk of land through which he annually brought home grains for his kitchen, but he did not know what to do now as the crop needs to be sowed in a fortnight.

Raja Zainul Abideen, another farmer, said the situation for the growers had completely changed compared to the previous year.

Mr Zain said that the price of diesel stood at Rs122 per litre during October last year while it has now increased to Rs235. He said that around a 50pc rise in diesel price is the basic reason for the increased expense of growing wheat crops. He said that a 50 kilogramme bag ofDi-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) cost around Rs5,500 last year while the prices have now soared to Rs13,500-14,000. Similarly, Mr Zain added that the price of a 40-kg bag of good quality seeds had climbed to Rs5,000-5,300 from Rs2,400. He said the unprecedented inflation was costing the farmers dearly. He said agriculture was only affordable for landlords and not for the common people now.

When contacted, Chaudhry Rab Nawaz, a farmer from Chak Bahadur village, said he cultivates a large area of land round the year but this time he was also forced to review his plans. He said he had never witnessed such circumstances in 50 years.

The land is ploughed five times to make it suitable for the wheat seeds to be sowed, he said, adding now it is costing Rs2,500 to plough through a one-acre piece of land a single time and around Rs13,000 if it is done five times. Last year, it cost around Rs1,300, he said, adding many farmers are now using manure in the field as a substitute of DAP fertiliser.

He said those who have their own cattle got it as a blessing in disguise while others were purchasing a trolley of it for Rs3,000 while an additional Rs2,500 was charged by the trolley owners for transporting it.

Mr Rab Nawaz said that the trend was rising as most farmers cannot afford packaged fertilisers.

Chaudhry Abrar Rasheed, a politician from the Jatli area of Gujar Khan, with an agricultural background, said he used to cultivate wheat on a large area of land but had discontinued that for the last three years due to increased input and declining outputs.

Mr Rasheed, who also served as chair of the district agriculture committee in 2001, said agriculture once used to be the productive unit of the country but now it was in shambles. He said he was now cultivating mustard and groundnuts which have low sowing costs and more profits.

Pointingout a serious issue, Mr Abrar said most of the agricultural land was being occupied by housing societies which would affect the production of crops in the long run.

Talking about Gujar Khan, he said around five or six housing societies had begun their projects on agricultural land in the past few months and thousands of kanals of precious land would cease to produce crops.

He said such projects should be launched on barren lands, adding that the government should take steps to provide relief to small farmers.

There is a need for the government to take timely decisions and devise a transparent policy to educate and facilitate farmers, he said, adding farmers were passing through testing times as most of them had suffered huge losses in the past few months due to the death of their cattle.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2022