Under pressure: Sindh’s farmers face loss of Rs58b this season, says SAB

Lobbying body points to low crop prices, exploitation.

HYDERABAD:

Sindh's rice, wheat, cotton and sugarcane farmers have suffered a loss of Rs58 billion this season, mostly due to low crop prices and exploitation by millers and middlemen, claimed farmers' lobbying body Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) at a press conference on Saturday.

"The Sindh government is responsible for this colossal financial loss to the agricultural economy and the farmers," said board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani, estimating the monetary loss incurred by the wheat farmers to be around Rs13.6 billion.

Around 4.5 million tons of wheat is being harvested in 2015, against a target of five million tons. The provincial food department will procure 1.1 million tons — nearly a quarter  of the produce — while the rest, excluding the grain stored for sowing in the next season, is being sold in the open market.

"The crop is being purchased at around Rs1,100 per 40 kilograms of wheat, although the government's fixed rate is Rs1,300," pointed out Nizamani. "The provincial government has persistently failed to regulate the official price."

He also asserted that unparalleled corruption was taking place in the official procurement and distribution process of the gunny bags for wheat. The wheat growers were being made to pay Rs100 to Rs200 per bag, he said, adding that the food department was buying plastic bags from the market at the rate of Rs120 per bag, instead of the market price of Rs72. "It requires official investigation to unearth why Rs48 more is being given per bag," he added.

Nizamani compared the rate of rice in the last two seasons, pointing to a reduction of Rs150 per 40kg with the crop being sold at the rate of Rs850 this season against Rs1,000 in the last season. According to him, the financial loss for rice farmers, who produced 2.6 million tons in Sindh this fiscal year, amounted to Rs12.24 billion.

Similarly, he said that the cotton farmers in the province, who produced 3.5 million bales, sustained a loss of Rs25.3 billion because the rate dropped from Rs2,500 per 40kg last season to Rs2,000 this season.

Nizamani also claimed that the sugarcane growers, who were locked in a price dispute with the sugar mills, were estimated to suffer a loss of Rs7.22 billion because the mills were refusing to pay the rate of Rs182 per 40kg that was fixed by the provincial government. After both the parties resorted to litigation, the court fixed the price at Rs172 per 40kg, including a subsidy of Rs10 that was to be paid by the government. Around 17 million tons of cane will be crushed this year.

SAB general secretary Mahmood Nawaz Shah claimed that the import of vegetables and bananas from India had also drastically affected the local farmers. "The government does not consult the farmers before allowing imports, leading to the cultivation of crops that have no buyers in the local market," he said.

He also maintained that the Indian farmers enjoyed huge subsidies, unlike their Pakistani counterparts, who were, therefore, in no position to compete with them.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2015.