HYDERABAD: Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) general secretary Zahid Bhurgari has expressed grave concern over decline in the prices of cotton crop and urged the federal government to take action against the cotton ginners of Sindh.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he said that until recently Rs10,000 was offered to farmers and now Rs6,000 per 40kg was being paid as the ginners had established their monopoly.

He said it was in fact economic murder of the growers. He maintained that Eidul Azha was approaching, but the ginners had controlled the prices by establishing their monopoly.

He said that Rs10,000 had been offered only a week ago while the federal government had fixed Rs8,500 per 40kg as cotton price.

He said the ginners were violating the prices openly and urged the Sindh and federal governments to take action against them. Their monopoly would undermine the cotton sector as the growers would get disappointed because they had already faced colossal losses in the last flooding season.

He stated that now the ginners were exploiting those farmers whose had already suffered huge losses in the

floods. The cost of inputs had already increased manifold in the province and the price of Rs6,000 per 40kg was highly inadequate.

He claimed that Rs10,000 per40kg was being offered by the ginners to cotton growers in Sadiqabad, which was just 60km away from Sindh’s Ghotki district.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2023