MULTAN City News

PCGA demands action against seed mafia
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association has demanded a government crackdown on adulterated seed mafia, as they are causing losses of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.
Talking to journalists here on Friday, PCGA Chairman Hafeez Anwar called upon Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of the mafia which is destroying the agriculture economy across country.
He said adulterated seeds are damaging the quality of cotton and lessening its demand in the world market. He alleged the seed companies were working without agriculture scientists. He said over 60 per cent of Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) cotton sown in Pakistan last year was counterfeit. “That was why the country missed the production target by almost 2.5 million bales,” he added.
“The seed mafia, in connivance with the officials of the Agriculture Department is ruling the roost,” he alleged. The BT cottonseed is being sold to farmers by seed companies with a production claim of up to 40 maunds per acre against existing average of around 15 maunds. All these claims are falling flat, but no official action is being taken against the culprits, he said.
Haji Hafeez said seed is being sold at exorbitant prices in certain parts of the province, even with no guarantee of projected yield.
“The farmers are not in a position to ascertain the health of the seed. Only the government departments can do the job, but, unfortunately, they have joined hands with the seed mafia,” he alleged.
He demanded effective implementation of the amended Seed Act.
The PCGA also urged the government to impose ban on shifting of sugar mills to southern Punjab’s cotton growing areas and take effective measures for the protection of white gold economy and to promote the export of textile products.
PCGA Vice-Chairman Rao Sadaruddin and Shahzad Ali Khan said on the occasion the Indian government had taken steps for increasing cotton production to strengthen its economy and it was giving incentives to the cotton growers, ginners, and textile sector, but the Pakistani government had failed to solve even problems of cotton growers.
The demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Federal Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir and Minister of Textile Industry Abbas Khan Afridi impose ban on the shifting of sugar mills to south Punjab.