Larkana:President, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Larkana, Syed Siraj Auliya Rashdi, said Friday that the government was ready to import wheat at exorbitant rates which will reach here at the rate of Rs1900 per 40 kg, but it was not ready to give same price to the local growers which he termed discrimination and economic murder of poor farmers and tillers.
He said agriculture is the backbone of the economy but the government was not ready to support growers to better yields for which proper prices were essential. He said during the current 2019-20 wheat harvesting season, most of the growers had sold out their wheat produced by them in their agricultural lands between Rs1200 to Rs1500 per 40 kg which came to Rs 28 to 38 per kg but at the moment, wheat was being sold between Rs1800 to 2200 per 40 kg in the open market without any benefit to the tillers but this price hike has filled the pockets of hoarders, profiteers and mafia which has not yet been curbed.
He said the international rate of wheat ranges between $220 to 245 per ton at the moment when freight charges, loading / unloading and local transportation and subsidies are given to the importers adding then collectively the wheat per ton will cost us between $260 to 270, which means the cost of 40 kg imported wheat will be Rs.1900. He said it is ironic that the authorities are ready to do it at the cost of the nation and give the Mafia an opportunity for smashing the money at the cost of national exchequer and a massive loss to the consumers which will increase sufferings of the masses who are already poverty-stricken.
He said had the government eradicated swarms of locusts and fixed a similar proper price for wheat crop the current crisis of wheat shortage would not have arisen. He said it is all due to the illogical and immature policies of the government which has forced the nation to undergo worst poverty and face hunger.