HYDERABAD, Aug 24: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has expressed disappointment over Sindh Irrigation Secretary Babar Effendi’s admission before Public Accounts Committee that he had no power to transfer even a Baildar (a field worker of Basic Pay Scale-3) of his department.

At a meeting held here on Friday, the chamber leaders said if the secretary’s admission indicated some hidden hands were harming the institution which were needed to be exposed. These hands had not only destroyed the department but also ruined the agriculture economy of the province, they said.

Because of sheer mismanagement, half of Kharif season had passed but tail-end growers had not received water to cultivate crops, they said and urged the government to ensure the tail-end areas were supplied water immediately.

The meeting expressed concern over a report about climate change and its implications on agricultural productivity prepared by the United Nations’ agencies.

According to the report, production of wheat and edible oil will be hit by 30 to 40 per cent because of severe heat in America and Russia and lead to hunger and starvation in several countries of the world and its implications will also be seen in Asian and African countries.

The country’s policymaking institutions should adopt positive measures to avert and fight this horrifying scenario in Pakistan, the meeting said.

It said that despite the start of picking of cotton and harvesting of rice the government had not announced support prices for these crops, rendering growers vulnerable to exploitation by traders.