LARKANA, Dec 3: The Sindh-Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association decided to call off the three-day-old strike of 900 rice mills of the two provinces after a meeting of the association’s general body here on Wednesday.
The association’s president Arif Mahisar who presided over the meeting told Dawn that all rice mills in the two provinces would restart procurement of paddy from Thursday.
When asked what rate the mills would offer growers for buying 40 kilogram of Irri-6, he said that when the market reopened the rate would be around Rs500 per 40 kg.
He said that the general manager of Passco would arrive in Larkana for further talks in a bid to pull the rice trade from present crisis.
The association urged the government to permit all rice mills in Sindh and Balochistan to buy paddy at the support price, he said, adding that the mills would continue buying paddy till Eid.
If negotiations with Passco bore no fruits the association would again shut down the mills, Mr Mahisar warned.
He said that the federal government had allocated Rs30 billion for purchasing Irri-6 rice through Passco but in practice it could not meet the target of 500,000 metric tons of rice through 80 centres.
Sindh and Balcohistan annually produced 2.5 million metric tons of rice and exported 1800,000 metric tons for $700 million but the government was not dealing with the issue seriously, he said.
Siraj Rashdi, the president of the Larkana chapter of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, said that the millers and middlemen were fleecing growers by offering them only Rs500 per 40 kg.
The Passco could not cope with the situation because it made payments after one payment while the millers paid them on spot. The government should allow all mills to purchase paddy, he said.
He said that he had talked to the federal minister of agriculture and apprised him of the situation. The minister had assured him of taking measures to solve the problem and said that he was well aware of growers’ issues, he said.
Rashdi said that Rice and Cane commissioner of Pakistan Inayatullah Khan had told him that the government had decided to procure 500,000 metric ton rice from the market within three days.
Realising the gravity of the situation the federal minister presided over a meeting in Islamabad to discuss paddy procurement. Purchasing paddy directly from the market would stabilise paddy prices, the rice commissioner told but the chamber did not have much expectations, Rashdi said.
Haji Abdul Majeed Shaikh, president of the Sindh Hari Abadgar Board, supported the association’s demand and said that Passco should allow all mills to purchase Irri-6 to solve the problem else it would further aggravate.
He criticised the millers for deducting 6 maunds of rice on each 100 maunds of Irri-6 and called for discontinuing the practice.