HYDERABAD: The Sindh government needs to commensurate budgetary allocations for the province’s agriculture sector with its contribution to the country’s agriculture GDP which is around 23 per cent.

According to farmers’ representatives, only an impressive investment could help realize the actual potential of agrarian economy. Such spending must be backed by transparency in utilisation.

“We [Sindh] contribute around 23 per cent of Pakistan’s agriculture GDP or $11 billion to $12 billion. We can increase this volume to $16 billion to $17 billion with proper investment and a carefully worked out strategy,” argues Mehmood Nawaz Shah, general secretary of Sindh Abadgar Board, of a vibrant growers’ body of Sindh.

According to his assessment, allocations have been meagre if Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2012-13 of Sindh’s agriculture sector is to be discussed.

Information available on Sindh government’s website regarding agriculture sector’s ADP 2012-13 shows that Rs2998.000 million was earmarked on the development side for five major sectors with mechanisation getting Rs1648.490 million, extension Rs500.552 million, research Rs398.794 million, water management Rs319.927million and marketing Rs130.237million.

Mechanisation got the major chunk as part of the amount was supposed to have been spent on provision of tractors with subsidised rates whose number was increased to 8000 for current fiscal year from 6000.

Provision of tractors is appreciated by farmers keeping in view the fact that many farmers don’t even have access to it.

The government should ensure that they and growers share equal cost of laser land leveler which is currently not the case. According to Nabi Bux Sathio of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, a grower is supposed to pay Rs367,000 against government’s share of Rs220,000.

“The land leveling of an acre costs around Rs12-Rs15,000 and with soaring price-hike in cost of inputs, growers find it hard to opt for laser land levelling,” he contends.

He asks the government to review cost of inputs and reduce them substantially.

For instance, if prices of DAP and urea fertilisers are reduced by 50 per cent, it can be of great help for them and then farmers would be giving serious thought to land leveling which would improve their per acre productivity.

He makes another point. Laser land levelling will be meaningless unless quality seeds with different varieties and adequate irrigation water are available, as these are sine qua non for substantive agricultural growth.

Alternate variety of different seeds is necessary because if one breed of seed loses its potential then its alternate must be available in market.

This can only be done through investment in research sector and qualified officers’ postings.

A recent dispute two years back, over sugarcane varieties, is a case in point when cane growers were barred from cultivating a few varieties under a notification by the government. This left farmers high and dry who had already grown it.

Sugar mill owners had refused to buy those varieties, questioning recovery of sucrose content. With the federal government’s intervention it was resolved at last.

Sathio is of the view that with serious attention on extension services, crop enhancement seems achievable. Currently it is not upto the desired level. He says that an average per acre sugarcane yield is less than 500 maunds, wheat’s 23 maunds, paddy’s 42 maunds and cotton 23 maunds.

This can be increased if the government rationalises the allocations and put a proper policy framework in place.

“We can achieve the 15 million bales production target that we often set, provided per acre productivity is increased,” he says. At the same time he opposes the trend of holding seminars and providing information about cropping season through FM radio channels, stating that this involves a huge spending by agriculture officials.

On the contrary if agriculture extension officials obtain land from farmers at union council level for demonstration of modern farm practices and cultivation of different crops, this can prove more fruitful for dissemination of information.

He adds that a farmer who offers land for such trial can be asked to bear with the expenses of water availability and fertiliser, while the rest should come from the government.

He said that such UC level demonstrations will be productive if an army of field staff with agriculture officials put in serious efforts. Only efficiency is required.

Farmers have been emphasising the need that extension and research sectors should be overhauled given experiences of farmers during the 2010 floods and 2011 heavy monsoon rains.

After having suffered huge economic losses, the farmers no one to turn to for technical assistance.

They didn’t even get primary information on how to handle soil quality of their land which was badly damaged during these back to back disasters. The scene was no different even during the 2012 rains.

Mahmood Nawaz Shah supports modern farming practices and says that tractors’ provision is a right step but transparency should be given top priority in the distribution process.

He believes that if lands are levelled through laser land leveler then it will ensure water conservation and equal availability of water in an acre.

The government, he says, should explore options of providing harvesters to control pre and post harvesting losses as much as possible.

“There is a big gap in what we contribute to Pakistan agriculture GDP and allocations made to our province’s agriculture sector.

"If we are giving $11 billion to $12 billion, the sector is getting Rs3 billion or $300 million. It is a meager allocation on the face of it”, he remarks. Further stating that such allocations should commensurate with the sector’s production potential.

In the wake of a series of disasters, there has been crop failures, fallout of international price mechanism, suppression of prices of wheat, cotton, paddy and onion.

But the government seemed to be lacking a strategy on how to handle such a situation. There was a lack of support for farmers too because there was no back-up plan to offer a helping hand to growers, battered by rains and floods, he adds.

He proposes that ADP 2013-14 must have provision for all these issues.

“We are now having abnormal weather patterns due to climatic changes so we have to adapt to these conditions,” he says.

Farmers bodies have been calling for a watercourse lining programme that had paid dividends wherever they were lined. Though there have been complaints of financial irregularities in schemes’ execution.

Growers say that farmers who are involved in any wrongdoing must be brought to justice, but the programme shouldn’t be compromised.

They oppose selective execution schemes like buildings of ponds which are meant for those areas usually hit by acute water shortage for small crops cultivation by farmers.

Not only influential farmers but some bureaucrats built them on their lands in violation of the execution plan.

Shah says that it has been a long standing demand of growers that Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) should be built and Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) should be fully rehabilitated because these have been the cause of major destruction to farmlands during heavy rains and floods.

Secondly, following the 18th amendment, agriculture is a devolved subject therefore provincial agriculture and irrigation departments’ capacity should be enhanced to respond to the needs of the farming community and effectively handle projects that are handed over to them.