Farmers' groups demand entire province be declared calamity-hit

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture wants sugar cane crushing to begin from November's first week


Our Correspondent September 10, 2018
Water shortage has severely affected crops in Sindh this year. PHOTO: APP/FILE

HYDERABAD: Farmers' lobbying groups in Sindh have asked the provincial government to declare drought in the entire province owing to persistent water shortage which continued for six months till August.

On the one hand, water shortage severely harmed cultivated crops and on the other, it affected livestock.

The provincial government on September 5 classified parts of six districts of Sindh, including Tharparkar and Umerkot, as calamity-hit areas. Following the government's move, the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) on Sunday demanded that rest of the districts where the economy is based on agricultural produce be also declared calamity-hit.

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The SCA held a meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday, which was attended by farmers from Karachi, Sukkur, Sanghar and Ghotki districts through video link.

SCA President Qabool Muhammad Khatian said water scarcity had affected around 80% of 12.7 million acres cultivable land under command area of the Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages. "The crops on 9 million acres of land dried due to water scarcity," he lamented.

Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president of another lobbying group Sindh Abadgar Board, echoed the same demand for declaring the province calamity-hit while talking to media personnel. He criticised the government for belatedly announcing the drought in six districts and delaying to start the relief work.

"The drought conditions have harmed livestock animals mainly those kept in the arid zone areas in Sindh. The government should have already begun supplying wheat and fodder to these places," he observed, reiterating that the delay may already have harmed thousands of livestock.

According to him, the livestock breeders who are migrating from Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar to the neighbouring districts are finding it hard to arrange fodder for their animals.

Sugar cane crushing

The SCA meeting also discussed the approaching sugar cane crushing season.

Almost every year, farmers and mill owners end up in a dispute over cane crushing which sometimes even leads to litigation. The chamber asked the provincial government to timely act to preempt a new standoff. "The government shall ensure that the sugar mills start sugar cane crushing from the first week of November," the SCA demanded.

The chamber further called for fixing the sugar cane purchasing price at Rs250 per maund instead of R172 per maund, which was fixed on the Supreme Court's order last year. The farmers said the meeting of Sugarcane Development Board should be called at the earliest to fix the price.

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Meanwhile, the SCA meeting also expressed concern over water shortage in the irrigation canals. The farmers urged the Sindh government to stop releasing 20,000 cusecs water in the downstream of Kotri barrage and to store that water in the barrage's upstream for distribution among its four canals.

The chamber also asked the government to waive taxes and agricultural loans.

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