Farmers' representatives term 2017 bad for agriculture sector

Representatives of different farmer organizations have termed the year 2017 as 'not good for the agricultural sector' both in production and price of different crops making it a trade deficit for the growers. Director Farmers Associate Pakistan (FAP) Dr Zafar Hayyat while talking to Business Recorder here on Wednesday said that major crops including cotton, rice, sugarcane or wheat could not perform in field or in the market except the rice which attracted some reasonable price.
Mentioning the sugarcane and cotton, he said sugarcane production was better because of increase in the area under cultivation, but the main dent caused to its grower was that it could not get handsome price and the negative and delaying tactics adopted by the sugar millers deprived the farmers of their due compensation. He termed that delay in announcing a crushing policy was the main reason of mess being seen in the sugarcane sector.
Talking about cotton, he said for the last two years there was a continuous production decline for this crop and the main reason was non-availability of quality seed. "Seed technology was standing right at that place where it was many years back. Though we have seed available in the name of latest technology but they are not making any impact on the production and these seeds are also not capable of fighting with different pests or diseases especially bollworms," Dr Zafar added.
He said current cotton seed available in the market have no resistance and proper gene expression. He warned if the government failed to take timely corrective measures, American Bollworm would be another threat to this crop like pink bollworm.
The FAP Director further said that in wheat though its production was increasing again due to increase in area; farmers were ditched by the middlemen and others because of absence of an effective official procurement policy.
Chairman of Agri Forum Pakistan, Muhammad Ibrahim Mughal termed the 2017 as the bleakest for agriculture. He said cotton is bread and butter for Punjab but its production is on constant decline. He said that cotton production had declined to only six million bales in 2017 against normal 11 million bales per annum. Thus it had caused a loss of Rs 250 billion as this crop was not only used in textile but it also created jobs, oilcakes for livestock and contribute to edible oil.
Regarding sugarcane, he said its production was in abundance but the fact is that sugar millers were selling sugar at Rs 50 per kilogram when they were buying sugarcane at Rs 180 per maund and the rate was same. Now they were buying it at the rate of 130 per maund besides delayed crushing season. He said they should have sold sugar at Rs 35 per kilogram in line with their present cane procurement price. He claimed that the sugar millers would be posting a collective profit of Rs 70 to 75 billion.
Central Secretary Information of Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP), Haji Muhammad Ramzan said that he had not seen such a bad year in his 67 years of life. He said all the major crops had seen worst mismanagement at the part of the government. "Support prices were announced for sugarcane or other crops but due to lack of the government interested growers were not able to get it from the market," he said.
He said cotton had started attracting some good price but the government crushed its growers by allowing its import from India. Similarly, he said sugar mills were all owned by the rulers which were the main buyer of sugarcane. Delay in the support price, lack of government writ in ensuring timely start of crushing season, buying on the government prescribed rates by the mills and delay in crushing season had brought the farmers at the brink of bankruptcy.