Farmers suffer losses as rains damage date crop in Khairpur – Newspaper

SUKKUR: The incessant rains in the province have caused considerable damage to date fruits in Khairpur district. Farmers fear huge losses due to the rains and mafiosi taking advantage of the situation and buying the rain-affected fruits at the lowest prices.

According to Zubair Ahmed Phulpoto, chairman of the local date growers association, only 20 percent of good quality dates had been harvested and marketed before the recent rains, hampering further production of the best quality dates.

He feared that the date trees would not be able to produce the best quality fruits now as it started raining in the initial stage of the fruit production. The date trees would therefore produce the second best quality dates, termed as ‘B’ or ‘C’ grade dates in the market, causing losses to farmers, he said.

He said the farmers would only be able to market 20 percent of the A-1 grade dates and 50 percent of the ‘B’ or ‘C’ grade dates. If there were no further rains in the region, the farmers would be able to earn enough during the remaining season, he said.

Mr. Phulpoto advised the district administration to send officials to Khajoor Mandi to ensure that middlemen bought the bags of dates from the growers as per official rules.

He said that middlemen normally deducted one kg from each bag of dates as was the practice across the country, but this time in Khairpur the middlemen had started deducting one and a half kg from each bag, which was unfair to farmers who had already suffered crop losses. The district officials should be present at the time of bidding in the market and prevent middlemen from exploiting the farmers, he said.

He urged the district administration to provide farmers with necessary equipment to protect the date crop.

Published in Dawn, August 10, 2024