Addressing a press conference along with Munir Bodla and Kanwar Muhammad Siddique here on Thursday, he urged the government not to import garlic, onion and pulses from India. Instead fertilisers and tractors should be imported, he demanded.
He said cotton growers had suffered a loss of Rs 25 billion during the season due to low production of 2.5 million cotton bales against the fixed target of achieving 15 million bales.
Besides, farmers were expecting cotton prices as Rs 1500 for cottonseed and Rs 2500 to 2600 per maund for ginned cotton but contrary to that they received unreasonable prices of their product, which had hit them badly.
Similarly, sugarcane production declined by 25 to 27 percent during the year, which had also hit the sugarcane growers. He said Pakistan's wheat, cotton and sugarcane production marked bellow than local consumption in calendar year 2005-06 while imports of various agriculture commodities including cotton, sugar, edible oil, wheat, garlic and pulses had been on the rise throughout the year.
KBP leader further said, sugarcane growers also incurred a loss of Rs 1.160 billion because sugarcane yield also showed dismal position current year.
Against the target of 50 million tonnes, sugarcane product is expected to hardly touch 40 million tonnes. This shortfall equals to financial loss of Rs 22 billion. Hence, the total monetary loss on account of gloomy scenario of major crops stands at Rs 60-65 billion, inflicting one percent dent in overall GDP of the country.
The plummeting production of major crops, which account for nearly 40 percent of value-addition in overall agriculture, is bound to adversely affect the economic growth rate. The downtrend in the agriculture sector had already led to increase in the prices of commodities, which had hit the common man, he added.
The main cash crop, cotton is expected to be well below the initial target of 15 million bales. As per estimates, its production would be between 12.25 and 12.7 million bales this year. The financial impact of the fall in cotton output alone comes to around Rs 25 billion. This huge plunge in cotton production is sufficient to depict a sorrow picture of the agriculture sector in 2005.
Wheat production was also below the target of 22 million tonnes as it stood at 20.5 million tonnes. Weather change and other factors pulled down per acre yield of wheat. The shortfall of around 3 million tonne wheat translates into a loss of Rs 25 billion.
The condition of wheat being cultivated in Rabi 2005-06 is not very much different from the last crop. Wheat sowing is not only delayed significantly but water shortage and thin supply of inputs, including fertiliser have raised questions regarding the good harvest of wheat.
There were very good news this year for the agriculture production and the authorities concerned were claiming to harvest good crops of paddy and citrus. The kinoo production is likely to double this year as compared with last year's production. There are also indications of an above target rice production.
On the other hand, the area under oilseed crops is likely to reduce this season.
Reasons for low yield include high cost of inputs, diesel and electricity and their shortage in the market. On marketing side, he maintained, rice, wheat and sugarcane growers could not get due prices for their produce. It is pathetic that officials concerned failed to pay attention when growers gave them wake-up calls repeatedly about imminent price crash.
Talking about imports of agriculture inputs, he said the import of palm oil would ultimately result in low domestic production of canola and sunflower.
The import of sugar means less production of sugarcane in the country.
He claimed that the whole agriculture sector was being destroyed in the interest of a small group. He said sustainable wheat production was must for the benefit of growers as well as for consumers. He was of the view that the vicious circle of low market prices, relatively late sowing and water shortage had affected production of wheat badly.