Daily Times

Growers of district Sujawal on Friday have condemned Sindh Government’s decision to impose a ban on the cultivation of paddy on the left bank of the river Indus and demanded lifting the ban to save them from financial losses.

Bahadur Lothaiyo who has vast experience of cultivating Paddy said that after the super flood of 2010, paddy cultivation provided financial stability to them and the land of Sujawal was ideal for paddy cultivation, but he noted that the government’s decision to impose a ban would inflict huge financial loss to the local growers.

Another grower Syed Mumtaz Shah said Paddy was the foremost source of earning for them, and if the ban on its cultivation continued it would lead them to financial crisis. A grower Abdullah Mirbhar termed the ban as an anti-grower move of the Sindh Government aimed at compelling growers to cultivate sugarcane to appease Mill owners.

Social Activist and Member STP Ayaz Lashari also voiced concerns over the government’s move and said this will plunge the growers of Sindh into acute financial crisis, and added that since due to low prices growers were not earning much from vegetables and paddy was probably the only source of financial uplift to them.

Lashari vowed to launch a province-wide campaign if the ban was not lifted, and said that the Leaders of Sindh Abadgar Etihad in a meeting held the other day in Hyderabad, also opposed the ban and said that the ban on the cultivation of Paddy in the coastal areas of Badin, Thatta, and Sujawal was incomprehensible as these areas received water only for six months.

The leaders of growers urged the Sindh Government to review its decision and exclude these districts from the list.