HYDERABAD, Oct 20: The Sindh Abadgar Tehrik would hold demonstrations across the province on Oct 24-25 in protest against acute shortage of water and fertiliser, low return on crops and price hike of agricultural inputs.

The organiser of the Tehrik, Ghulam Mustafa Leghari, deputy organiser Dewan Arumal and other office-bearers appealed to the farming community at a news conference at the press club on Monday to participate in demonstrations in large numbers.

They said that the growers were at the end their tether because they who were feeding the entire population of the country were themselves forced to starve.

They said that unlike common trend in the entire world where prices of crops were fixed by growers and people themselves, in Pakistan the prices were fixed by market brokers, commission agents and the government.

The growers were being rendered destitute and their families were starving while the brokers, the commission agents and the factory owners were rolling in wealth, they said.

Each year, Sindh’s share in water was stolen by the Punjab, forcing the farming community of Sindh to face drought or occasional floods, they said. Lower Sindh had not received any water over the past one month whereas the central Sindh and the area falling under the command of Nara Canal faced 65 per cent water shortage, they said.

They accused the Punjab and Wapda of using all the water of Tarbela Dam and claimed that 30,000 cusec of water was flowing in the waterways of Punjab to achieve bumper Kharif crops.

They feared that misappropriation of water by the Punjab and Wapda would deprive people of Sindh of even drinking water in January and February 2009.

They demanded that the Punjab should be supplied water from Mangla Dam only and Sindh’s share for its next crop should be released from Tarbela Dam. Last year, the government fixed prices of cotton, sugarcane and sunflower at low rates and let the growers suffer huge losses.

To compensate the growers for the losses, the Tehrik leaders demanded that they should be provided seed at cheap rates, water shortage should be ended and subsidy should be given directly to the growers and peasants.

They demanded that the growers should be exempted from the payment of markup on agricultural loans obtained during last five years and on the pattern of Punjab, the growers in Sindh should be provided tractors and agricultural machinery on low interest loans.

They said that the crop insurance expenses should be borne by the government. The dealers, who were selling adulterated fertilisers, pesticides and seeds should be prosecuted, they demanded.

They demanded that the minimum price of sugarcane should be fixed at Rs120 per 40 kilogram and of wheat at Rs1,200 per 40kg. The growers should be protected against the excesses perpetrated by Mirpurkhas cotton factory owners and the minimum price of cotton should be fixed at Rs2,500 per 40kg, of chilly at Rs8,000 per 40kg and of rice at Rs1,000 per 40kg, they said.

They said that the growers should be provided storage facilities at each district headquarter to help them preserve vegetables and fruits and the sugar mills should be directed to pay them dues without further delay.

They said that the price of diesel and electricity should be brought down and strongly opposed construction of dams and alternate canals in place of Kalabagh Dam.

They lashed out at the president of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah for throwing his weight behind the construction of Kalabagh Dam.