|
Govt cannot
purchase unsold rice stock
KARACHI- Sindh Governor
Mohammed Mian Soomro said on Tuesday the government could not
purchase unsold rice stock lying with growers and millers as
it carried huge financial implications.
Soomro said that state-owned corporations like Rice Export
Corporation of Pakistan (RECP) and Cotton Export Corporation (CEC)
had to suspend their operations on accumulating huge losses
for the national exchequer.
Addressing a one-day seminar organized by Rice Exporters
Association of Pakistan (REAP) on 'Rice from sowing to
export', the governor said there had never been the government
commitment to lift unsold stock of rice from growers or
millers.
Instead of looking at the government for providing assistance,
the governor called upon all the stakeholders to put their act
together for sorting out issues confronting each segment. He
said time had come to look into each activity from the
business perspective, therefore, the growers should also adopt
to rapidly changing realities.
The governor said the government could not offer support to
any such activity which would result in accumulation of losses
to the national exchequer and asked the growers to adopt
modern techniques to improve per acre yield which is presently
among the lowest in the world. However, Soomro assured that
any plan taken up jointly by the stakeholders in rice will be
fully supported at provincial as well as federal level.
The governor said there was a shortage of irrigation water in
the country as a whole, therefore, the Sindh growers should
not get carried away on personal views appearing in the print
media. He assured that at least this government will never
allow injustice with any stakeholder in water be it at
national or provincial level.
He informed the participants that the government would be
regularly providing information about the availability of
irrigation water along with details of timing and area through
media, but urged upon the Sindh growers to stop thinking that
their share of water is being taken by other province.
The governor did not agree with president of Sindh Balochistan
Rice Millers & Traders Association Gada Hussain Mahesar that
centuries old practice of cultivating rice in the province
could not be stopped overnight.
Soomro said that the world was witnessing rapid changes in
every segment of activity, including trade and agriculture,
therefore, there was no question that Sindh growers could not
move in line to protect their interest.
Consequently, the governor said change in crop pattern in
Sindh was now a necessity and compulsion rather than a choice.
He suggested that the growers should immediately go for
alternate crops which consume lesser water. Similarly, he
stressed upon the need of improving seeds and introducing
hybrid varieties for getting higher yield as is being done in
India.
REAP chairman Abdul Rahim Janoo suggested that loans be given
to millers for modernizing their existing units as well as to
those who want to set up parboiling units which will assist in
taking back "our share in the lost market of Saudi Arabia." He
also recommended that growers should also be given loans to
buy hybrid seeds which have already given remarkable results
as many big growers in the province have started using these
seeds.
He drew the attention of the governor towards prevailing law
and order situation in interior of Sindh and suggested that a
conference of exporters and investors should be called in
interior of province which will be beneficial to the economy
of Sindh.
FPCCI president Iftikhar Ali Malik presided over the second
session of the seminar.
courtesy Daily Dawn, 3
April, 2002
|
Pakissan.com;
|
