HYDERABAD, Feb 27: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has demanded that Sindh should be treated at par with Punjab in respect of water security, availability of certified seeds and fertilizers.

The chamber complained of step-motherly treatment allegedly being meted out to the farmers of Sindh, and said that at present all agricultural inputs were being sold on the black market in Sindh.

Briefing newsmen after the executive committee meeting of the chamber on Sunday, the central leadership said that 50 members of the committee from all districts had painted a dismal picture of the agriculture sector.

The president of the chamber and former senator Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah said that all the functionaries of federal and provincial governments including the president were only paying a lip service to agriculture.

He said that fertilizer was in short supply and being openly sold on the black market to the extent of 50 per cent above the government rate. The chamber president said there was no check on quality and price control and spurious pesticides were being sold to gullible farmers.

He pointed out that enough water was available due to rains but unfortunately water rotation programme was still continuing in Sindh. He expressed concern over the lining of watercourses before correcting level and flow of water in canals.

He said that over one million acres of agricultural land in Badin and Thatta districts had been submerged under the sea but nobody seem to take notice of this. He said that Sindh was the only province where the seed corporation had been dissolved instead of improving it for the benefit of farmers.

He said that this had given a telling blow to the agriculture sector. Mr Shah demanded that the Sindh Seed Corporation should be reactivated and its working should be streamlined.