Farmers decry red tape at Board of Revenue

Point out that Sindh received 18% of agricultural credit in Pakistan although share in national production was higher

HYDERABAD:

The alleged corruption and red tape in the SIndh Board of Revenue has been depriving farmers from securing agricultural credit besides making the process of sale and purchase of agricultural land difficult.

The Sindh Abadgar Board, a group lobbying for farmers' rights, at its meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday even blamed the BOR for the exploitation of the small and medium-sized farmers at the hands of the loan sharks because of the official dalliance in providing the required land documents.

The meeting, presided by Mahmood Nawaz Shah, maintained that even the lending banks agree with the farmers' contention with regard to the BOR. "The small growers instead of running from pillar to post, prefer to get very expensive loans from the middle men and, consequently, they get exploited," the meeting lamented.

The farmers pointed out that Sindh received 18% of the total agricultural credit in Pakistan even though its share in terms of the national production was higher. They attributed this difference to the processes involved in securing loans from the banks with the BOR provided documentation cited as the main stumbling block. They pointed out hardships which they confront in securing verification, attestation of the ownership documents and Khasra, a document mentioning land records and the grown crops.

According to the board, the agriculturists also faced similar bottlenecks in the process of sale of their land for which they required sale certificate followed by the change of the title.