Pest attack ravages wheat crop in Sindh

Calling government’s announcement of establishing procurement centers merely an eye wash, Rashdi said that in the absence of such centers the growers and producers were compelled to sell their commodity at the rate of Rs700 to Rs750 per 40kg in the open market. The government had promised to purchase wheat at the rate of Rs950 per 40kg, he said, but it seemed a distant dream.
The wheat is cultivated on 2.2 million acres of land in Sindh; Rashdi said and added that damages were mostly caused in Upper Sindh. The wheat production would be reduced as the growers in the absence of certified seeds had sown ‘Bakhar seed’ which was banned in Punjab. The virus comfortably attacked on this variety and grains were drastically affected. The growers under the situation were anxiously waiting for the early opening of procurement centers so as to sell out their yield, said Arif Mahisar President Sindh Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association.
‘When you don’t have the stock of the required quantity of gunny bags how could the growers sell out their stocks to the government’ said Noor Khoso a grower in Mirokhan. He said his crop in Deh ‘Koor’ and Deh ‘Kalhora’ was severely damaged due to the fresh spell of rain. Also the virus attack had squeezed the number of grains in the plant.