LARKANA: The central leader of Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), Gada Hussain Mahesar, urged PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to take notice of water shortage situation in Sindh and order immediate remedy measures to save growers and farmers of rice from huge losses.
He was talking to newsmen here on Sunday. He said that 40 percent of land is still facing water shortage due to which lands have become dry where paddy saplings have not still been sown.
He said this time water was released very late, due to which many areas of Sindh could not be able to sow rice. He claimed that 50 percent of the rice cultivation will be affected in the province only because of late arrival of agricultural water.
SAB leader said that they tried their best to contact chief engineer and other Irrigation department engineers but they did not attend their calls. He said during paddy sowing season all engineers were constantly out of their offices, adding he has never seen sowing of rice after the mid of August. “Farmers are still busy in sowing rice saplings without knowing that there will be no yield,” said the SAB leader.
Mahesar was of the view that vast lands will become arid due to non-availability of water. “In October harvesting of rice season starts but farmers are still demanding water. Annual rice is grown over 2.7 million acres and production is approximately 2.4 million tons which is more than any other crop production in the province,” he told.