LAHORE, April 28: Seven top importers of pesticides, holding over 70 per cent of the market share, have decided to stop imports of all kinds of pesticides and herbicides, thus putting cotton and rice crops under tremendous pressure.
The importers, who met here on Friday, said that they had taken the decision to protest against the “discriminatory attitude and strict conditions being laid by the government officials in the conduct of their business.
The decision has sent shock waves among cotton and rice growers who said that both cash crops of Kharif season could face a reduction of up to 50 per cent if imports are not started immediately. It is not only import of pesticides and herbicides, that is important, but their timing as well, they said.
The boycotting importers include Ali Akbar Group, Welcome Chemicals, Auriga Chemicals, Solex Chemicals, Agri Farm, Suncrop International and Agrolet International.
According to one of the importers, the government has ‘strangulated’ their business due to its unnecessary requirements. The importers have been forced to take the decision as they have no other choice. Substantiating his point of view, he said that officials from the department of Plant Protection (DPP) had suddenly started demanding attestation certificate of recipes of the imported pesticides and herbicides duly signed by the department of plant protection of the country of origin.
“The import laws do not put any such restriction, he said and added: “The importers are ready to provide such certification, but it is a process that can take up to six months. The DPP is not ready to give them time. They want the certificate before import.” How importers could continue their businesses in these circumstances, he wondered.
He said that contrary to the restriction on local importers, multinationals were having a field day as far as legal procedures were concerned, claims another importer. Most of the companies, in whose name the multinationals have been importing their products, had either closed down or shifted their manufacturing units to other countries like China. But, the officials at DPP were allowing them uninterrupted imports. In these circumstances, the importers were left with no choice but to pull their shutters down, he said.
Farmers were concerned over decision as both cotton and rice crops would suffer because of the decision. “Cotton sowing in Sindh has already started and the shortage of herbicides has already started biting the growers,” Farooq Bajwa of the Farmers Associate Pakistan (FAP) said. Herbicides’ prices in Sindh had already shot up by 25 per cent.
Sindh sows only 25 per cent of cotton, one can imagine what would happen when Punjab starts sowing its share of 75 per cent crop. Rice would be the next sufferer. Both rice and cotton account for most of the foreign exchange for the country.
He appealed to the government to resolve the problem being faced by the importers so that they could end their boycott.
