HYDERABAD: A meeting of the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), held here on Sunday, called for putting an end to the rotation system considering availability of sufficient water now flowing in canals after recent rains across the country. It noted that a fair quantum was being released downstream Kotri Barrage as well.

The meeting observed that farmers of tail-end areas were also satisfied over early arrival of water this year.

The meeting wondered that the rotation programme and closure of systems every seven days in some areas continued despite the fact that water was being released below Kotri Barrage since June.

The meeting participants said that distributaries remained closed for 15 days. Shortages in Rohri, Nara, Dadu and other canals remained common, they added.

Growers of the Khairpur East system pointed out that most of the 65,000 acres at the tail of the system was not even cultivated in Kharif.

SAB meeting also calls for checking middlemen’s practice of fleecing farmers, consumers

The meeting demanded that the rotation programme should come to an end forthwith when water was surplus now. “The artificial shortage that is being effected in the irrigation system is encouraging water theft while growers are being harassed by irrigation officials,” it observed.

SAB leaders also noted that prices of agricultural inputs continued to rise and those of almost all fertilisers had increased by 15pc to 20pc over the last few months. The price of DAP fertiliser, for example, had increased by Rs1,800 per bag within the last week alone. The price of urea, which is the largest used fertilizer, continued to rise from Rs1,650 per bag in the pre-pandemic time to Rs3,100 now but is not available to farmers even at this high rate.

It said that dealers were selling urea at Rs3,500 to Rs3,700 per bag and no one was there to check this blackmarketing of the nitrogenous fertilisers.

The meeting observed that growers were suffering the adverse impacts of climate change, pest infestations and unfair pricing policy.

It said that they had planted cotton in February so as to respond to climate change effects and it was seen that the crop was healthy. Cotton crop arrival, therefore, increased by more than 60pc.

It said that the country was likely to arrest the declining trend in agricultural production and with that imports would reduce and exports would increase which was a good news for the economy.

Cotton growers, on the other hand, said they continued to suffer. SAB said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced the minimum support price of cotton as Rs8,500/40kg but currently farmers in Sindh were not getting more than Rs7,700/40kg. Moreover, buyers would deduct two kilos on every 40kg on one or the other pretext.

Farmers expressed their deep concern over middlemen’s role lamenting that they were given a freehand to fleece growers. Middlemen would first hoard fertilisers and then sell it at a price of their own choice, they said, and added they were suppressing prices of different farm commodities as well.

The meeting urged the government to take legal action against the middlemen and other hoarders who continued to thrive and fleece primary producers and consumers.

The meeting was chaired by Mahmood Nawaz Shah and attended by Dr Bashir Nizamani, Syed Nadeem Shah, Aslam Mari, Imran Bozdar, Khalid Memon, Taha Memon, Qazi Adeel, Ahsan Arbab and others.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2023