HYDERABAD: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has complained that up to 60 companies are allegedly selling fake hybrid seeds of rice in Sindh where farmers spend around Rs. 6 billion annually on that purchase.
At a meeting at its office here on Sunday, which was attended by SCA’s representatives from Karachi, Sukkur, Sanghar and other districts through video link, the chamber requested the provincial government to take action, according to a statement issued here on Sunday.
Vice president of the SCA Dr. Syed Shahnawaz Shah, who chaired the meeting, said each year rice was grown on between 700,000 to 750,000 hectares in Sindh.He added that around 95% of the seed being sold by those 60 companies was spurious in quality and resulted in low yields and bad crop.
The meeting also protested that against price of the hybrid rice seed in the international market, the farmers in Sindh were being sold the seed at a higher price of $9 to $10 per kilogram.
The farmers representatives regretted that the original rice seed of Sindh had become difficult to find as the fake hybrid seed had taken its place. According to the SCA, the federal government had initially allowed those companies to market the seeds on experimental basis and that the official approval for permanent marketing had still not been given.
“In the name of imported hybrid rice seed from China, the companies are selling locally produced sub-standard hybrid seeds,” the statement further added.The meeting passed a resolution demanding that the federal and Sindh government should take instant action against those companies. The resolution also called for ensuring supply of quality hybrid seed in the market.
Syed Aijaz Nabi Shah, Nabi Bux Sathio, Muhammad Khan Sarejo, Mir Abdul Kareem Talpur, Agha Khadim Hussain Shah and other office bearers and members of the SCA attended the meeting.
