Prior to imposing the ban on 3 varieties of cane crops, the growers have urged Sindh government to call a joint meeting of agriculture research centres, experts and growers' representatives on the platform of Sindh Seed Council.
The demand was made here on Friday at the meeting of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture which was presided over by Ghulam Muhammad, while a former Cane Commissioner Qadir Baksh Baloch, Nasrullah Khan, Nabi Bux Sathio, Abdul Karim Talpur, Muhammad Khan Sarejo, Imdad and other growers' representatives from different districts of the province attended.
The participants said the ban should not be imposed unless the suggested meeting is held and it takes a decision in favour of prohibiting the purchase of the said varieties. They called for postponing the ban for 3 years unless the growers who arre cultivating the prohibited crops had sown substitute varieties. Sathio warned of colossal damage to cane cropping if the sugar mills did not buy the banned varieties.
"The decision serves the interests of sugar mills owners who want ban to maximise their profits by inflicting losses on the growers," he added. The meeting lamented that while the upper Sindh areas were facing a medium level flood, the sensitive embankments of Indus river and other irrigation infrastructure, ravaged by the floods last year, were still not reconstructed completely.
"Although the government is left with little time, it can yet complete a great deal of work if adequate steps are taken," they said. Qadir Baksh Baloch appreciated the briefing given by Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on the overall state of agriculture in Sindh.
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