Wheat sown in fertile floodplains seen filling up Sindh granaries

HYDERABAD: Harvest of early sown wheat has kicked off in flood-affected areas of Umerkot, Kunri, and parts of Tharparkar and Mirpurkhas districts and local farmers are betting on bountiful yields that will cover their losses to a good deal.

Being advanced in cultivation of all crops, the growers in these areas had sown wheat in mid-October and early November. Now the crop is ready for reaping in the early cultivated pieces of lands. Tractor-driven threshing machines can now be seen cleaning wheat in the areas near Nao Kot, Jhuddo, and Roshanabad.

Reports show this year the entire Sindh province is going to receive a bumper crop, except for a few areas where farmers faced different issues like unauthorised seed, unfavorable weather, water shortage, and adulterated chemical input.

Though rain-flood had destroyed standing crops, those farmers, who had cultivated the next immediate crops like wheat, mustard and isabgol, were now are harvesting higher yields.

However, farmers have different understandings about the high-yield compared to previous years. Some growers attribute it to floodwater, which had contributed to improve the soil fertility by bringing in mineral-rich silt.

Ghulam Hussain Khaskheli, a small-scale grower in Kaloi area of Tharparkar district, sharing his experiences said he had lost his chilli crop in the flood, in which he had invested a lot on farmyard manure and fertiliser to get better yield. “After the rains destroyed my chilli crop, I sowed the next immediate crop on the same land, which proved to be the best in terms of productivity,” Khaskheli added.

Earlier, the farmers used to get 30-35 maund (40kg) per acre, which now may increase to 45-60 maund/acre, depending on soil fertility.

Other farmers also have similar success stories to share. The devastating rains and flood, which started on September 21, 2020 had inundated standing crops in a wide area, causing huge losses to farmers; however, the next food crop seems to have helping them greatly in recovering losses. Not only wheat, the farmers in the flood-affected area are also getting high yields of mustard crop measuring 30-35 maund/ acre compared to 15-20 maund/acre previously.

Hajan Leghari, a mustard farmer from Roshanabad near Jhuddo said he had received a production of 35 maund/ acre, which was unbelievable for him. He is about to start harvesting his wheat crop, expecting to a yield higher compared to previous years.

Leghari said since they were in the tail-end areas, they always faced water scarcity in irrigation channels. The current year the crop ripened on moisture after rains and flood for which farmers are happy.

Ramzan Nangraj, leading a farmers’ network in Dadu district claims to have preserved old wheat seed varieties, which now seem to have value among local farmers. For example, he said some of the varieties were capable of yielding 55-60 maund/ acre, even more than high-yielding varieties.

“Only a few farmers have adopted these old varieties, which do not need more water or chemical input. Farmers are motivated to use farmyard manure to maintain soil fertility,” Nangraj said.

"The government agriculture department officials always downplay the old varieties and advocate for new hybrid seeds, which require more water and chemical input."

The officials plead: “since we are the most populous country, we need high yielding varieties to meet the need of food for the whole population through improving productivity”.

Nangraj said they are struggling to engage small scale farmers to conduct action-based research and use traditional methods, like farmyard manure instead of chemical input.

Akram Khaskheli, a grower in Nawabshah district, also expects a copious wheat crop this year. He said in some parts as usual the farmers had experienced weather issues and water scarcity.

Leghari, who also leads Hari Welfare Association (HWA), a peasants’ network, said this year farmers were also hit by bad anti-weed pesticides, which in some areas killed the crop along with the wild grasses in the fields, causing losses to growoers in Kandiaro, Naushehro Feroz district, Matiari and other areas.

In some areas farmers complained about the substandard seeds, which had germination issues that resulted in losses.

The reports from parts of Sanghar district show the wheat yield may not be satisfactory there this year mainly due to weather ups and downs and irrigation water shortage at the time of grain maturity. Like this, increasing salinity due to excessive use of chemical input has also created problems for farmers, which may affect the productivity of the major crops.

The dispute over the support prices for crops persists between the federal and Sindh provincial government. The Punjab government reportedly has set Rs1,800/ maund, while Sindh government wanted to fix Rs2,000/ maund. Reaching an amicable sweet spot is imperative for motivating farmers to grow more wheat as well as bringing down the price of flour and other wheat products within the reach of consumers at large.