HYDERABAD: Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) met on Monday under the chairmanship of its President Mahmood Nawaz Shah to discuss mega wheat scam and resultant ‘surplus crisis’. It expressed solidarity with the agitating Pakistan Kissan Ittehad and condemned arrest of protesting farmers in Punjab.

The meeting noted that growers of Sindh suffered losses to the tune of Rs50bn due to injustices including denial of bardana (gunny bags) supplies and maltreatment making growers to sell their crop to middlemen and hoarders. It said that the Punjab-based wheat growers were also likely to suffer huge losses, running into hundreds of billions of rupees, as the market rate of the commodity had plunged to below Rs2.900 per 40kg against the support price of Rs3,900; and it seemed there would be no buyers even at this rate. The meeting termed the situation ‘surplus wheat crisis’.

The crisis has not happened because of surplus production, rather, it is a result of mismanagement, officials’ incompetence and wrong reporting — prima-facie with mala fide intention — and corruption, according to SAB.

Board fears Punjab farmers’ losses may run into hundreds of billions in wake of scam

The meeting condemned shenanigans defending the US$1bn wheat import during a period where the country ended the financial year with a carryover stock of 4.7 million tonnes; besides the stocks available with the private sector.

The meeting wondered that wheat import was allowed till Feb and March, when new wheat crop was also to arrive. “It doesn’t end here, this all happened in a year when government’s own estimate/target was of ‘historic production’ of 32m tonnes,” it noted.

Ready to join protest

The meeting declared that “SAB reserves its right to protest in solidarity with [agitating] growers”. The board would also file a petition in the Sindh High Court on the issue.

There was a strong opinion at the meeting that SAB should launch a campaign to reduce wheat sowing by 50 per cent for the next year.

It was proposed at the meeting that SAB should buy wheat from growers for export in order to reduce their losses. The participants suggested that government, instead of buying dollars from market, could also earn foreign exchange through wheat exports.

Oilseeds import bill

The SAB meeting also discussed edible oil production and observed that there seemed to be no policy or institutional investments in this field.

Pakistan imports edible oil worth US$3.5bn; this import bill could be substantially reduced as there is a wide scope of edible oil production in almost all provinces.

Growers of edible oil seeds, including mustard and sunflower, complained that seed of sunflower was losing its vigour and the yields had declined from 15-20 maunds to seven-nine maunds. There was no extension, research or regulatory environment having been made available that could ensure availability of quality seeds or offer guidance on production methodology.

The SAB meeting urged the Sindh government to initiate a dialogue with stakeholders, including growers and seed suppliers, in coordination with the federal government for a strategy which should encompass seed-to-harvest process in order to ensure increase in the production of edible oil.

‘Unjustifiable’ water shortage

The meeting also expressed its concern over unavailability of water in certain areas in spite of the fact that irrigation water appeared surplus. It noted that rotation programme was being continued and some of tail-end areas were facing a drought-like situation. The meeting renewed its demand to make irrigation water available everywhere as Kharif season was in full swing. Growers of southern Sindh at the meeting also raised the issue of poor drainage system and choked channels of Kotri Barrage. They called for maintenance of the drainage system for its efficient function.

The meeting was attended by Dr Bashir Nizamani, Syed Nadeem Shah, Mohammad Aslam Marri, Imran Bozdar, Malook Nizamani, Taha Memon, Qazi Adeel, Syed Salman Shah, Malik Nizamani, Ali Mardan Shah, Abdul Hafeez Nizamani and others.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2024