Hit by low prices, high cost, tillers mull quitting on paddy

HYDERABAD: Despite challenges like water scarcity at the stages of nursery preparation and seedling transplantation amid high temperatures and heavy rains, farmers in early rice sowing areas of Sindh are comfortable after receiving 80-120 maund/acre yield, but remain wary of rising input cost, The News has learnt.

Rice harvesting that started in September would continue through October. On the other hand late-sowing areas in upper parts of the province like Dadu, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Larkana, Jacobabad and others are preparing to harvest paddy in the month of November and may continue till December.

Ironically, given the high input cost, prices of the product are low, Rs1200-1400/maund set for the last year, which was a cause of huge disappointment for the producers.

Gulab Shah, a coastal farmer in Keti Bunder, Thatta district said his family cultivated rice on one hundred acres of land and received a yield of 70-80 maund/ acre.

“Despite bearing huge cost of inputs, we are being offered very low prices,” Shah said.

He said the per acre cultivation cost increased to Rs60,000-65,000/acre from 30,000-35,000/acre last year, owing to a rise in the prices of fertiliser and pesticides, diesel for running tube wells in some areas, and seeds.

He said this year they paid Rs6000-6500 for a fertiliser bag they had bought for Rs3,600 last year.

“Thatta district is among a few places where farmers still cultivate local OP (open pollination) varieties like Irri-6, Irri-9, and others, which require low chemical input and are considered healthy for human consumption.”

Farmers get a yield of 50-60 maunds/acre by cultivating local OP varieties, Shah said.

Gharo town in the coastal area has around five rice mills, receiving the products from Ghorabari, Sakro, and Keti Bunder areas.

About seed prices, farmers said some of them usually preserved their own seeds for the next year or it was available at Rs125/kg at local markets.

Compared to that hybrid seeds were costly and available at Rs1200-1400/ kg, they added.

Growers usually use 6-7 kgs of hybrid rice seeds for an acre, while it takes 7-8 kgs of local varieties seeds to cover one acre. The rice crop takes 90-120 days to mature, but requires more water and care.

Altaf Mahesar, who leads a farmers’ network in major rice producing Dadu district, said the situation in terms of productivity was different as many rice growing areas received water late, which badly impacted the crops growth.

He said in early sowing areas the farmers received water by May end and June, the time of preparing nurseries and seedling transplantation.

The rice growers in Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Sanghar and other districts faced difficulties preparing seedling nurseries timely because of water scarcity. In many areas farmers seemed reluctant to continue cultivating this valuable crop and switched to alternative crops because of water issues.

Information from Badin district revealed farmers that faced water scarcity at an early stage of the crop and were hit by heavy rains at its maturity are receiving low yield and seem unable to recover the cost.

Zafar Leghari, a leading farmer in Sanghar district said they had cultivated rice on around 450 acres of land, harvesting on an average 50-55 maunds/acre, because they received the water late from the irrigation system.

He observed the grain quality was not perfect because of the water shortage on top of unfavourable weather conditions during the growing stage. “Water scarcity is a common issue in the entire Sanghar district, especially paddy growing parts.”

Leghari said despite bearing the increased cost they were getting only Rs1200-1300/maund in the local market, which was not fair. “The government fixes support prices for some major crops and ignores rice and vegetables, which disappoint the producers.”

He said weather change also impacted the cultivation and harvesting. “Last year we started harvesting in August but this year we are one month late,” Leghari said.

Golarchi area in Badin district, known as the rice hub, has more than 100 rice mills, which get the product from a wide area.

Farmers believe as usual it is because of traders’ monopoly that producers are compelled to sell their product at low rates.

In some areas farmers use the same paddy land for sowing next immediate crops like wheat, mustard, chickpea, alsi (linseed), and other traditional crops because the moisture in the soil benefits all their growth.