SIALKOT, March 10: The recent heavy rains and bad weather is causing damage to the paddy yield stocked in the rice mills in the district, as most of these lack proper storage facility.

Expressing concern over the situation, Anjuman Kashtakaran district president Syed Iqbal Ahmad Shah, Framers Rights Protection Commission Punjab chairman Mirza Ehsan Baig and Citizens Rights Forum chief Dr Muneer Butt and other farmers told journalists, here, on Thursday that the sale and export of the paddy yield had been stopped owing to some unknown reasons.

They said owing to these circumstances, the rice mills in the area were also facing shortage of space to store paddy yield, which was being adversely affected by the ongoing rains and bad weather. To avoid damage to the yield, the mill owners were compelled to store it under tents and tarpaulins, they added.

Requesting anonymity, some experts in the food department said that due to the recent heavy rains, the land, where the paddy yield was stocked under the tents in almost all the rice mills in the distinct, had become wet and the colour of the paddy yield was turning yellowish from white. They added that besides, the export-quality paddy yield was also being badly affected.

The experts were of the view that the growers and rice dealers were unable to export the affected paddy yield at large scale.

They added that the affected paddy yield, when processed, would be broken into pieces, while it could only be dried when the weather would become sunny.

President, Sialkot Rice Mills Owners’ Association, Muhammad Rasheed Warraich, said that mill owners were suffering great financial losses owing to this situation. He said that all those rice mills having no machine dryers would remain closed till the weather becomes dry and sunny.

He added that as the cleaning process had already been stopped owing to the bad weather, the cots of production would also increase.

The affected paddy growers have urged the government to exempt them from the mark-up on their agricultural loans.

They also urged the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) to announce a special subsidy on the freight charges for the rice exporters.