LARKANA, Nov 7: Rice farmers are forced to sell their hard-earned harvest cheaply because of a delay in announcement of support price for the crop by the government.

Farmers and representatives of growers’ organisations interviewed by Dawn on Monday at the grain market said they had to sell the crop at low rates to be able to repay loans they had taken for sowing rice.

Mohammad Punhal Luhar, former district president of People’s Hari Committee, said that he had cultivated IRRI-6 and hybrid rice seed on 75 acres of land near the Larkana bypass and had a good harvest but the current price trend had disheartened him.

The market offered prices in the range of Rs800, 850 and 700 per 40 kilogramme, which were too low, he said.

He said that he had bought hybrid seed at Rs40,000 per 40 kg while prices of other farm inputs had gone through the roof over the years but the price of the crop had been on the decline.

He urged the government to fix support price at Rs1,200 to 1,300 per 40 kg to help growers clear loans and earn a decent living. The pace of paddy’s arrival in the market had slackened after Eid because growers were compelled to accept low price only to meet urgent Eid needs, he said. Muneer Korkani, a graduate farmer who owned 50 acres in Khaidkar village, said he had sold IRRI-6 at Rs810 per 40 kg. Its minimum price should be fixed at Rs1,000 per 40kg, he said, adding that he had to sell off a piece of land to repay loans and meet other family needs.

Ghulam Mohammad Umrani of Pir-jo-Goth village said that he had bought a bag of DAP at Rs4,000, urea at Rs2,000, paid rent for tractor at Rs1,000 an hour to sow rice but he received only Rs750 per 40kg in the market which was too low. The price should at least be Rs1,200 per 40kg to at least enable growers to clear loans, he said.

He said that he had to sell a piece of land from his 40 acres every year to be able to meet family demands and obligations and pay for children’s education and medical bills.

Sikandar Ali Chandio said that he cultivated rice on 25 acres but he was also doing a government job to meet ever-rising familay expenses. He had sown hybrid seed which he had bought at Rs1,000 a kg but he was forced to sell the harvest at Rs700 per 40 kg, he said.

He said the procurement price of rice should be fixed at Rs1,300 per 40 kg to facilitate growers to meet production cost and other expenses and also be able to prepare for Rabi crops.

Eidan Khan Dahani of Dahani village said that first, they did not get good quality seed to sow and then if they got a good yield they were compelled to sell it at throwaway process.

Majority of growers at the grain market complained that prices of almost all agricultural inputs had increased but the procurement prices had been stuck at the lowest level for years.

They said the government did not bother to solve problems of the farm sector and called for setting up rice procurement centres immediately to save growers from unbearable losses.

Gada Hussain Mahesar, central vice-president of the Sindh Abadgar Board, said the procurement price of paddy should at least be Rs1,200 per 40 kg. India fixed support price prior to arrival of paddy in the market and the country had put in place a system to buy rice from growers to help and encourage them to grow more rice, he said.

But in Pakistan, he said, the government had completely ignored the farm sector. At present, there were no potential buyers in the market and the government had not yet fixed support price while it had stopped setting up procurement centres since three years, he said.

He called for fixing support price at Rs1,340 per 40 kg and said if the government announced the price in time the procurement price would automatically rise to Rs990 to 1000 per 40 kg in the market.

He urged the government to immediately set up procurement centres in all rice-growing districts in Sindh and Balochistan under the umbrella of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

“The procured rice should be stocked in Pipri go-downs which can keep one million tons of the grain. If the TCP can buy cotton and sugarcane then why not rice,” said Mr Mahesar.

He said that delay in announcement of support price and setting up of procurement centres would ultimately harm growers’ interests and help fill the coffers of exporters sitting in Karachi.

He said that at present, India had dumped its old stocks of rice in the international market for $400 per ton. Vietnam, too, was offering the same price for its rice while price of Pakistani rice was $410 per ton, he said.

At the outset of paddy’s arrival, it was being sold at Rs3,400 per 100 kg but its price soon came down to Rs3,100 per 100 kg while a truck charged Rs34,000 to 37,000 to take rice from Larkana to Karachi, he said.

He said that only varieties of IRRI-6, NIAB-9, KS-282, DR-82 and DR-83 which had been approved by the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority were acceptable in international market.

Mr Mahesar said that rice was cultivated on 2.5 million acres in Sindh and Balochistan and the two provinces produced 2.56 million metric tons, 50 per cent of which was exported every year to earn the country $800 million.

He said there were 1,700 rice mills in Sindh and Balochistan. About 50,000 labourers were linked directly to the rice industry and an equal number of people were indirectly connected to the grain’s trade, he said.