The growers of Sindh have maintained that the agriculture sector would be harmed to irreparable extent if new taxes were levied on it in the upcoming budget 2011-12. A meeting of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA), convened here on Friday, observed that the loss to agriculturists would lead to poverty of rural households and which in turn could cause multiple socio- economic problems.
The meeting also expressed concern over water shortage particularly in tail-end areas of canals and distributaries, noting that Kharif crop would be harmed by its scarcity. SCA President Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar, while presiding over the meeting said that farmers in Sindh were already paying up to Rs 750 billion in taxes per annum.
"Despite that the growers fear new taxes are being planned on agriculture sector and if it happened the agro economy will slump," he added. The meeting discussed the diminishing water supplies to the province and non-compliance of 1991 water accord by Indus River System Authority (Irsa). "Water discharge at upstream Sukkur barrage is 86,000 cusecs and at Kotri barrage upstream the releases are 11,700 cusecs," Muhammad Khan Sarejo told the meeting, saying the discharge was less than the seasonal share of the barrages. The meeting also called for an end to water rotation system in distributaries linked with the canals on the ground that while farmers of one area get water the others are deprived of it by the rotation system.
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