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Express Tribune
03-08-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Call for lifting export shackles on fruits and veggies
Citing the dire straits in which the agriculture sector has become plunged owing to reduced yield, lower crop prices and higher cost of cultivation, Sindh's farmers have demanded complete freedom to export their produce. The Sindh Abadgar Board, an organisation striving for rights of agriculturists, on Sunday deplored that the existing government policies are putting the agro economy in a slump. "The so-called deregulation policy started with wheat in March, 2024, after which the government didn't procure about seven million tons of wheat, creating a domino effect which allowed middlemen to exploit farmers," reads a statement issued after a meeting of the board in Hyderabad, which was presided by Mehmood Nawaz Shah. The growers recalled that such a sudden stepping back by the government crashed the wheat price from Rs3,800 per maund in the open market to Rs2,200 per maund. "And this occurred against the backdrop of Rs3,450 per maund cost of production." The colossal loss in the previous harvest season has been estimated at around Rs900 billion. According to the farmers, not only the same story was repeated in the wheat harvest season in 2025, the sugarcane sector also followed suit as the growers were made to sell their produce at a lower price while the refined sugar is now being sold at exorbitant rates to the public. The meeting lamented that the government has been spending precious foreign exchange to import agricultural commodities and that too when the time of harvesting the same crops approached closer. "This has resulted in bleeding of the agricultural economy. Consequently, the uptake of fertilizers have reduced, the tractor sales have reduced, the price of diesel and pesticides continues to increase and with all this threat of climate change and extreme events looms large." Recommendations The SAB strongly called for unfettering exports of vegetables and fruits so that the farmers can get prices for their produce on the basis of international markets. They also demanded serious efforts to improve quality of seeds, to control inflationary prices of the inputs, and measures to help farmers improve per acre yields. The farmers pointed out that the agricultural financing through the banks does not even meet 50% of the sector's requirement. They suggested that if the government is sincere in increasing financing options for the sector, the current fixed asset collateral based financing ought to be replaced with the cash flow and revenue based agriculture financing. Addressing the endemic problem of power outages and load shedding, ensuring timely supply of irrigation water, among other measures, were also demanded. Dr Bashir Nizamani, Dr Ali Reza Mirjat, Syed Nadeem Shah, Mohammed Aslam Mari and other representatives of the growers attended the meeting.
Express Tribune
13-07-2025
- Climate
- Express Tribune
Farmers complain of water shortage despite low flood at barrages
A low flood has been declared at two of the three barrages in Sindh while an identical situation is developing at the third one yet the growers in Sindh continue to cry about shortage of irrigation water. The Sindh Abadgar Board, a farmers' lobbying group whose office bearers held a meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday, bewailed that the water rotation system which is implemented during period of water scarcity in the Indus River is still in force in the province. The meeting, according to a press statement, demanded that the rotation should be stopped immediately and all the canals and water distributaries should be continuously supplied water. The farmers said many crops in Sindh would have dried due to the engineered water shortage if it had not rained in the month of June. SAB has complained that the irrigation water rotation is adversely affecting the agro economy as sowing in the ongoing Kharif season is just 30% of the same season in 2024. The regime is under implementation since March and the growers claimed that they have already suffered losses in the cultivated crops like mangoes, sugarcane and vegetables. "The current severe shortage of water in the backdrop of the losses to the agriculture last year, due to falling commodity prices, and reduced production will take the agricultural economy further down." The water discharge at the Guddu barrage on Sunday morning was recorded at 342,093 cusecs while it was 260,626 cusecs at Sukkur and 68,930 at Kotri barrages. The irrigation authorities have declared low flood at Guddu and Sukkur barrages. Cotton crop woes The meeting also pointed out the multi-faceted problems which have been affected the cotton production and the crop's growers as well. The farmers complained that poor quality seeds and pesticides as well as low crop prices have affected the crop's production, making its future cultivation bleaker. They said the existing prices of Rs6,300 to Rs6,800 are discouraging famers from cultivating cotton crop whose cost of inputs and climate protection measures have no longer kept it profitable. They demanded that the government in collaboration with the agriculture universities should embark on a wide-ranging research initiative to come up with seeds which suit the local climate. They also called for stringent regulatory measures to curb the rampant marketing and sale of spurious pesticides. Mahmood Nawaz Shah presided the meeting which was was attended by Syed Zain Shah, Dr Bashir Nizamani, Syed Nadeem Shah, Mohammed Aslam Mari and other office bearers and members of SAB.
Express Tribune
16-06-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Rs7.5b agri budget neglects research, seed development
With the demands of farmers concerning seed development and research remaining unheard, the Sindh government has proposed expenditure of over Rs7.535 billion on agriculture, in addition to another sum of Rs3.5 billion under the head of foreign project assistance (FPA), in fiscal 2025-26. More than Rs3.3 billion have been earmarked for water courses related projects as less than eight per cent of the provincial budget is going to be spent on research and below one per cent on the seed development. The farmers' training will also see a minuscule funding of Rs87 million as challenges ranging from efficient water use to climate resistant farming lay ahead. The Sindh Agriculture, Supply and Prices Department is distributing its development budget in its nine sub-sectors. The wing responsible for overseeing the supply of commodities, regulating prices, checking weights and taking measurements will also get a paltry amount of Rs69.28 million to procure mobile testing unit for inspection. "With water being scarce and Pakistan being one of the least efficient users of water in agriculture, there is no attention to correcting that or investing in high efficiency systems like drip," commented Syed Mahmood Nawaz Shah, the acting President of Sindh Abadgar Board. He also pointed out that the availability of certified seed in the market is around 45 per cent but the provincial government remains indifferent to the situation. "Again, there is no way forward or a strategy." The Rs150 million seed development programme will get only a small sum of Rs50 million in the upcoming financial year. The programme is also supposed to conduct capacity development of the agriculturists. The Rs7.535 billion outlay consists of allocations of Rs six billion for 35 ongoing schemes and Rs1.5 billion for eight new and unapproved projects. Research The government plans to spend Rs89.7 million on bio saline agriculture research and development phase-II; Rs100 million on upgrade of horticulture research centre in Mirpurkhas; Rs125 million on rice research in Larkana; and Rs62.5 million on varietal development of wheat through speed breeding. The two unapproved schemes include bio saline, rehabilitation and resilient initiative and climate resilient crops seed research with the allocations of Rs50 million and Rs25 million, respectively. Meanwhile, after the water management projects, the agriculture mechanisation sector receives the largest funds from the provincial government with Rs2.166 billion being pledged for the next fiscal. Eight ongoing and one new schemes of the Agriculture Extension wing will receive Rs1.042 billion from the Sindh government besides a hefty injection of Rs3.5 billion under the FPA. The sector's Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation (SWAT) project, whose total cost surpasses Rs142.28 billion, funded primarily from the credit received from the World Bank with the Sindh government's contribution of only Rs23 billion, will get Rs200 million in 2025-26. Likewise, the Rs3.4 billion project to transform the Indus basin with climate resilient agriculture and water management will be provided Rs316 million by the government in the upcoming financial year. The government plans to spend Rs198.5 million to establish a new fruit and vegetable market in Mehar taluka of Dadu district but the project is still categorised as unapproved. The supply of laser levelling equipment on rental basis to farmers will be apportioned Rs220.7 million with the project's total outlay being at Rs300 million. The government is also assisting the date farmers to set up date processing, packaging and pasting plant at the cost of Rs628 million. Rs254 million, or half of the sanctioned funds, will be released next year.
Express Tribune
06-06-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Govt ignored agri sector in upcoming budget: SAB
The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has deplored that the government appears indifferent to budgetary suggestions of their cohort as no consultative process has got underway with only few days left in the budget presentation. A meeting of the board, a group which lobbies for the rights of farmers, was held in Hyderabad on Thursday with Mahmood Nawaz Shah in the chair. The meeting underlined that the prevailing slump in agricultural economy, on the contrary, called for painstaking pre-budget deliberations among the stakeholders. The growers found fault with what they described as the government's 'cherry-pick' policy with regard to their sector's deregulation which, they claimed, is now being manipulated by the traders to the detriment of their corps. They contended that the actual deregulation of the agro-economy also encompassed free export of the agricultural produce, which to the utter disadvantage of the agriculturists, is being retrained. "[Besides] the export will only enhance when the agricultural industry is competitive. One of the aspects of competitiveness is to analyze the international prices which are backed by heavy subsidies in input costs like in India," they said. They pointed out that they will become competitive with foreign growers when a robust infrastructure is provided to the rural economy. "The anomaly of 18% GST [General Sales Tax] on locally produced cotton and the duty free import of cotton ought to be removed." The meeting also demanded withdrawal of the GST from imported and locally made machinery, implements and tractors. The measures like arranging subsidised credit, grants, equity participation and public private partnership have also become essential to support the sector with which the livelihood of tens of millions of people is connected. They gave reference of India, which has converted 22% of their area to high efficiency systems whereas Pakistan has not achieved even 0.5% target. Livestock The SAB has discredited the official figure of the livestock sector's over 4% growth in the ongoing fiscal. The Federal Planning Commission's working paper for the upcoming federal budget speaks about 4.7% expansion in the sector over the previous year.
