KARACHI: Growers and business community have expressed concern over sub-standard seeds of cereals and counterfeit pesticides and fertilizers being sold in Larkana and other districts of Sindh and called for strict legal action against those involved in this heinous crime and their facilitators.
These seeds and pesticides have played havoc with the agriculture in Sindh, they said while talking to APP here.
Mumtaz Ali Shaikh, a prominent businessman of Larkana, played his role for promoting trade and industry as vice president, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) two years back said the government should take strict action against the culprits.
FPCCI Vice President Zulfiqar Ali Shaikh also emphasized that the government should come up with strong checks against the trade of the sub-standard seed and counterfeit pesticides etc. to save growers from further loss.
Mumtaz Ali Shaikh observed that the growers in Sindh were already facing many difficulties including high cost of inputs and low yield per acre.
It is to be mentioned that rice growers and millers had been making hue and cry against the large scale sale of sub-standard seeds and counterfeit pesticides and fertilizers especially in Larkana district over last couple of years.
The representatives of growers-Faqir Faiz Muhmmad Hesbani from Nawabshah and Ifran Jatoi from Larkana- also demanded for immediate and strict legal action against those involved in the business of sub-standard and counterfeit products.
They maintained that the genuine fertilizers and pesticides were
also being sold at black list rates. Faqir Faiz Hesbani said, Engro had fixed Rs 2450 for per bag of urea but it was being sold at Rs 2600.They pointed out that the growers, at present, were harvesting paddy crop. Besides low yield per acre, they had suffered a big loss due to high rate of broken rice leading to low price of paddy at rice mills.
They pointed out that the growers were getting up to Rs 880 per maund, which was very low against the input and labour cost. The rice was being sold at minimum price of Rs 1230 per maund.
They maintained that the growers of paddy and wheat faced shortage of bags (bardana) that caused either wastage of their produce or fetched low rate for being spoiled under the open sky.
Hesbani said the growers in Sindh were getting low price also for sugarcane from the millers on one pretext or another. The farmers growing various vegetables as well were not getting right price due to lack of transportation and poor marketing.
He said only Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) members were purchasing paddy at low price like wheat, the government should also procure this crop at better price.
The leading grower of Nawabshah was of the opinion that after 18th amendment, Sindh government should form Sindh Agriculture Storage and Service Corporation (SASCO) on the pattern of PASCO to stop wastage of paddy crop and to ensure better price to the growers.
