HYDERABAD, Feb 2: The Sindh Abadgar Board has urged the provincial government to postpone the recovery of bank loans from growers to help them overcome the losses of Rs50 billion sustained by them during the past three years.

This was demanded at a meeting of the general council of the board, held here on Saturday and presided over by Abdul Majeed Nizamani.

Demanding the withdrawal of water charges and other agricultural taxes, the meeting called upon the government to provide soft-term loans to growers, with mark-up rates not exceeding three per cent.

The meeting discussed in detail the agricultural problems, including the acute shortage of water in Sindh and the statement of the Punjab Water Council.

The board decided to convene a national agricultural convention at Multan in March to discuss the problems, faced by the country’s farming community.

It was decided that the farmers from all over the country would be invited to attend the convention.

The meeting demanded of the federal government to take the farming community into confidence before deciding to import any agricultural commodity, and to concentrate on agriculture research.

Farmers, they said, should be given adequate representation on the research board and the Export Promotion Bureau, adding that the EPB should keep the growers informed about the production targets of various crops, keeping in view the world demand.

Expressing concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in Sindh, the SAB urged the government to adopt corrective measures in this regard.

The president of the Kisan Board, Mohammad Sadiq Khakwani, and the president of the Punjab Board, Ibrahim Mirza, attended the meeting on special invitation.