Rising petroleum prices would affect the agriculture sector of the country as farmers are dependent on fuel to operate their tube-wells for producing water, which is the basic need for the irrigation and growth of the crops.
"Due to inadequate canal system, the farmers are dependent on electrical and diesel tube-wells for irrigation but price escalation of oil would have negative impact on their production", Kisan Bachao Tehreek Secretary General Ahmed Noor Advocate told newsmen.
He was of the view that the POL price hike and load shedding would also affect the crops of rice, one of the major crops of the country. He said abundant water was a pre-requisite for sowing and growth of the rice crop, but grower were finding it hard to properly irrigate their paddies through tube-well, due to rising prices and shortage of diesel and load-shedding.
He claimed that millions of acres of agriculture land were rendered barren due to shortage of irrigation water. He maintained that filling stations were responsible for shortage and black marketing of diesel to earn undue profit.
He alleged that some stations sold diesel in limited quantity while most of the filling station suspended the supply in anticipation of price hike at the end of every month. He was of the view that in prevailing situation, a majority of tractors and tube-wells would become non-functional.
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