The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA), a farmers' lobbying group, has warned that the flour price in the market may shoot up to Rs200 per kilogram if the government fails to drain water from flooded agricultural fields and to financially support farmers on war footings.
Decline in wheat output and destruction of available stocks due to flood could put pressure on supply of the staple golden grain sending prices sky high, SCA said.
A meeting to the SCA in Hyderabad on Monday, chaired by its President Syed Meeran Muhammad Shah and General Secretary Zahid Bhurgari, also demanded preferably 100% or at least 50% subsidy on the seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.
"Around 80% of agricultural land in Sindh has gone under water," Shah said. He although acknowledged that it will be a daunting task for the government to drain water from the fields, he believed sincere efforts can help achieve that objective. "Sindh produces around 4.3 million tonne wheat every year but next year it will be difficult to harvest even around one million," he feared. The flour price in Hyderabad has already jacked up to between Rs110 to Rs120 per kilogram. A 100 kg bag of wheat was being sold at Rs9,000 in Hyderabad on Monday, with the addition of Rs200 to the rate.
Bhurgari reminded that only one month is left before the wheat sowing season starts in Sindh from October 15. The exercise of clearing the flooded lands will be a race against the time.
Around 3.5 million acres of land have gone under water in Sindh. The Sindh government has set a target to drain water from 75% fields but only in the wheat crop areas.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2022.
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