Help needed: ‘Traders should buy cotton from farmers’

HYDERABAD: Agriculturists have asked the federal government to direct the Trading Corporation of Pakistan to procure cotton from the farmers of Sindh. A meeting of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on Sunday expressed concerns over the continuous exploitation of cotton growers who have been left at the mercy of the open market dealers. The farmers from other districts of Sindh attended the meeting through video conference from Karachi, Sukkur, Sanghar and Ghotki. The farmers’ representatives complained that they are being paid Rs2,200 to Rs2,500 for a maund instead of Rs3,200 per maund; the rate fixed by the Sindh government. The meeting also called for fixing the procurement rate of rice at Rs1,200 per maund and sugarcane at Rs250 per maund.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th,2014.