Hyderabad:
The board of directors of Sindh Abadgar, a farmers’ lobbying group, estimated the year 2024-25 in progress to be the least efficient year for the agricultural sector in more than two decades. On Sunday, a meeting of a board of directors in Hyderabad, chaired by Mahmood Nawaz Shah, stressed the reasons for the sector crisis and also suggested repair measures.
Producers noted that climate change of one hand has made harmful effects on the sector while on the other hand fertilizer, lower quality seeds and pesticides as well as a substantial drop in crop prices affected agriculture. Higher temperatures; Torrential showers and repeated cycles of drought, also causing complex and serious attacks on pests and diseases, have become demonstrations of global warming, farmers said.
Farmers have worried about increasing cultivation costs due to the increase in water consumption and culture protection needs, while yields continue to drop. They reported significant drops in the production of key crops such as cotton, wheat, rice and vegetables, criticizing the government for its inaction.
They argued that even if the prices of raw materials fell, it came at the cost of farmers’ income, which is essential to maintain the sector. They pointed out that the drop in crop rates should have been adapted to reducing entrance costs, which did not happen.
Farmers have condemned the government’s lack of support, citing insufficient access to agricultural credit, the uncontrolled sale of falsified pesticides and low -quality seeds, and low extension services.
