The representatives of farmers' community have demanded draining out water from the farmlands so that they could timely sow the wheat crop of Rabi (winter) season At a meeting of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, here on Friday, the growers estimated that around 40 percent of the land brought under cultivation of wheat crop is available for sowing while the rest is still under water.
If the efforts (to drain water) were not expedited then wheat production would be lower than what was produced last year, observed President SCA, Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar who presided over the meeting. Dr Qamar also called for starting distribution of free seed and fertiliser to the flood hit farmers as announced by the government. The meeting also took exception to fixing the price of Rs 154 per 40 kilogram of sugarcane crop and asked the government for a rate of Rs 250 instead. The meeting also noted with concern the damage caused to the irrigation system by the rains and floods, and wondered as to how the water supply through the damaged irrigation channels would be managed.
Drawing government's attention towards the problem, they said without proper supply and drainage of water the production of farmlands would suffer. "We have already lost our 'kharif' crops to floods and now if we are not helped to kick-start sowing of the 'rabi' crop than the agriculture sector will slump," they expressed. The meeting also discussed the issue of providing soft loans to the affected farmers.
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