SIALKOT, June 25: Kissan Board Pakistan central rice committee chairman Amanullah Chattha has said shortage and black marketing of diesel was adversely affecting rice sowing in the area.

Chattha told journalists on Wednesday that abundant water was an essential prerequisite for sowing and growth of rice crop but due to short supply of diesel and its black marketing farmers were finding it hard to properly irrigate their paddies through tube-wells.

He said given the long spells of power loadshedding, tube-wells were the only reliable means of irrigation for the farmers.

He complained that government officials concerned had failed to check black marketing of diesel which had created shortage of the essential fuel for the farmers.

He warned if the situation persisted the rice production might register a sharp decline, depriving the country of huge foreign exchange it earned through exporting the yield.