HYDERABAD: The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) on Monday urged the federal and provincial governments to work together to counter locusts which might grow into a bigger threat than Covid-19 and cause food security issues with losses up to Rs500 billion as stipulated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) after a new wave of insects feared to assail the country from Africa in coming months.

In an online meeting presided over by Mehmood Nawaz Shah, the board discussed federal and provincial budgets for 2020-21 in detail, resolving that the federal government should announce allocations for its five-year Agriculture Emergency Programme and the Sindh government should increase allocations for agriculture credit from Rsibn to Rs25bn for small and medium size farms.

It said that while agriculture was devolved under the 18th Amendment, the federal policy and initiatives, however, had direct impact on the farm sector, including the Agriculture Emergency Programme, locust control, and import and export of agricultural produce etc.The SAB said the initiatives required close coordination between the federal and provincial governments as lack of it led to zero spending, like last year, when not a single rupee was spent in Sindh from Rs18bn out of Rs65bn on the programme. It said the Sindh government neither had followed its agriculture policy nor the policy-implementing steering committee held any meeting.

It said several proposals were presented to the federal and provincial governments about import substitution of edible oil where Pakistan spent over $3.2bn.

Import of edible oil and its seeds had doubled since 2014-15. It said cultivation in the area of oilseeds in Sindh had declined from 260,000ha to 80,0000ha.

The SAB has proposed fixation of minimum price, provision of quality seeds, and research and development to have sustained oilseed production in Sindh. It said that of the 15m tonnes of fruits and vegetables production in Pakistan, 30pc was wasted and 5pc-7pc processed.

It said there was a tremendous opportunity through the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Belt and Road (BRI) to take advantage of the creation of specialised horticultural valuechains having infrastructure with incentive and credit available to encourage value-added horticultural products. Pakistan could easily get to $500m horticultural exports of fresh and value-added product, it adde d.

The meeting said no measures were announced to arrest decline in cotton production from 14.8m bales to nine million bales. The Sindh government raised `grow more cotton` slogan in the budget, announcing subsidised seed. It said there was need to include interventions which could keep cotton production viable for the farmer.

It said that neither the federal nor provincial governments realised that enhancing water productivity was key to sustainable agricultural production and cater to water requirements of increasing population. It said that only 1,200 acres were shifted on high efficiency system out of the targeted 35,000 acres under World Bank (WB) funded programme in the past three years, which was a dismal performance of the Sindh government.

It said that with 0.18kg production per cubic metre of water in Pakistan as compared to up to internationally 1.2kg per cubic metre of water, there was room forimprovement. Funds allocation should be towards conservation, recycling of industrial waste and water efficiency. `Huge brick and mortar projects alone would not make us water smart country,` it said.

The WB-funded Sindh Agriculture Growth Project (SAGP) of $75m, focused on four products and had room for increasing size by including more agricultural products if first phase was successful, it said. Due to lack of proper implementation, the programme would end without yielding results for which it was originally envisaged,it added.

The SAB said that agricultural economy was faced with locusts and Covid-19 and due to closures, demand contraction, decline in exports etc, fruit and vegetables` rates tumbled, majority of wheat stocks were sold at lower rates against the market price. It caused loss of Rs15bn in three months in Sindh.

It said no relief measures were announced apart from fertilizer subsidy of Rs37bn, which was not implemented yet. Uptake of fertilizer had reduced by 70pc, which might have a detrimental impact on Kharif production, it added.

It said the provincial and federal and governments have towork together to counter locusts, adding that disjointed approach and Sindh government`s spending of hundreds of millions on vehicle purchase would not yield results.

Locust response mustinclude compensation mechanism for losses to farmers for which there was no allocation or an emergency fund.

The SAB resolved that the government should take cognizance of opportunities mentioned above and correct budgetary anomalies.

It said the federal government should implement fertilizer subsidy programme across the board for provinces. Allocations for the Agriculture Emergency Programme needed to be announced with clear strategy for implementation in all provinces in budget 2020-21.

Locust control programme needed to start at earliest with the coordination of the provinces. It said agricultural credit for Sindh should be increased from 16pc to 25pc to commensurate agricultural production.

It said the Sindh government should increase allocations of agricultural credit for small and medium sized farms from Rsibn to Rs25bn. Minimum support price for major crops, fruits and vegetables should be announced in line with ruling party`s manifesto.

Taxes and dues should be waived, it added.