HYDERABAD: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has welcomed initiatives announced in the federal budget for agriculture sector, but expressed concern over lack of allocations for research and demanded allocation of Rs4bn for activation of agriculture research bodies.

The SCA meeting held on Sunday under the chairmanship of its president Miran Mohammad Shah said federal and provincial budgets have to some extent addressed issues of the agriculture sector by offering some relief compared to the past budgets, adding that it would benefit the farm sector.

The SCA welcomed subsidies announced in two budgets for the agriculture sector, and hoped that packages announced in budgets would be given effect.

The chamber called for speedy activation of research bodies of the agriculture department to produce quality seed and release of Rs4 billion for this purpose.

SCA said that around 5MAF (million acre feet) of water of BOD and other drains could be stored at Puran to use for agriculture purposes for uncultivable land.

The meeting noted that budgetary allocations for research purposes must be enhanced and that 93 new seed varieties were introduced in neighbouring country last year and cotton’s seed was pest free.

The SCA demanded that Rs4bn should be allocated for agriculture research bodies to activate them. It said that farmland was being converted into housing schemes at a fast pace which would lead to food insecurity.

The chamber observed that Pakistan was importing $14.5bn, and said around 18MHA (million hectare acres) land was uncultivable in the country for which efforts should be made to make them productive.

Farmers from different districts, while expressing their views through video link, said that water flows equivalent to Tarbela’s storage were wasted in LBOD and other drains which could be stored to bring uncultivable land for agriculture purposes. This storage could be used to feed the Thar coal power project as well.

It feared that lower Sindh could drown again in case of heavy monsoon spells since works were not carried out on the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD).

It said last year drains spelled disasters as they caused inundation of farmland in Sindh during rainfall. It urged the Sindh government to ensure works on these drains on a war footing basis to protect farmlands.

The chamber expressed concern over ‘artificial’ water shortage in Rohri, Nara and Ghotki Feeder canals. It said that 85,000 cusecs of water flows were available at Guddu barrage, but paddy growing areas remained without water. It called upon the Sindh government to take notice of this water shortage to end it.

Growers deplored the fact that cotton’s prices recorded a decline as ginners were offering inadequate prices at the pretext of rainfall. They were offering Rs8,000 per 40kg instead of Rs10,500 per 40kg. It demanded that Rs13,500 should be paid to growers for cotton crop in view of increasing input cost.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2023