SAB seeks President's help to save Sindh farm sector

The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has appealed to President General Pervez Musharraf to take effective steps to undo injustice against Sindh and ensure the implementation of Water Accord to save the agriculture sector of the province and the livelihood of the overwhelming majority of the population associated with agrarian economy.
In a statement faxed to national papers here on Friday, the former Rice Millers and Dealers Association president, Sindh and Balochistan and SAB Vice-President Gada Hussain Mahessar has said that acute shortage of water, price-hike, mismanagement and lawlessness have hit the agriculture sector.
Quoting figures from the federal agriculture department report, he said that per acre yield of wheat stood at 24.07 maunds, rice at 40.66 maunds and sugarcane at 662.68 maunds.
He pointed out that in the present age of machinery and technology, the agriculture sector of Sindh was lagging far behind due to low productivity.
He said the increase in the prices of oil has proved to be a boon for one group resulting in the mushroom growth of petrol pumps. On the other hand, he said this increase has destroyed the farming community, as it could not use agricultural machinery.
He said a 45 HP tractor consumed between 7 and 8 litres of diesel in one hour for ploughing the land whereas 60 to 75 HP tractor consumed 16 to 18 litres diesel in one hour. Not only this, he said but there was also no check on the prices of fertilisers and pesticides as each company was at liberty to increase the prices of their products at its will.
Mahessar said there was also no check on the quality and weight of these inputs. As a result, with the exception of phosphate and zinc fertilisers, substandard and adulterated pesticides were being sold in the market openly.
The SAB official also said the multinational companies in the current year, provided hybrid sunflower seed to the growers at the rate of Rs 500 to Rs 600 per kg but the production losses compared to last year were between 25 and 30 percent per acre. He claimed that the only cause of production losses was substandard seed.
He, however, argued that when Sindh was not getting its due share of water under the existing water accord, then what was the guarantee that it will receive its due share after the construction of dams.