Farmers’ woes: Govt support sought to strengthen agro economy

SCA meeting highlights plight of farmers in Sindh

HYDERABAD: As Pakistan Peoples Partys (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari makes a case against the alleged exploitation of farmers in Punjab by the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz's government, agriculturists have decried similar treatment by the Sindh government.

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA), a farmers' lobbying group headed by PPP MNA Syed Naveed Qamar's brother, expressed grievances on Sunday in a press statement.

After a meeting, attended through video-link by farmers in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sanghar, Sukkur, Ghotki and Larkana, the chamber said the growers in Sindh are being continuously subjected to economic oppression. SCA senior vice-president Ghulam Hussain Chachar chaired the meeting.

"While expressing deep concern over the injustices being meted out to the farmers, the chamber requests the Sindh government to take immediate steps to support and strengthen the agro economy," said the statement.

The meeting complained that despite Sindh food minister Nasir Hussain Shah's assurances, wheat procurement centres have not been opened nor have gunny bags been supplied in many parts of Sindh. The farmers also expressed worry over the loss to the growers of cotton crop due to shortage of irrigation water in the tail-end areas where cultivation has begun.

The sugarcane price row between farmers and sugar mills, with the government being perceived to be siding with the latter, is already being fought in the Sindh High Court. The farmers are demanding a rate of Rs185 per 40 kilogrammes while the government has fixed Rs172 per 40kg as the price for the sugarcane crop.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th,  2016.