Cotton farmers demand support for the crop after harvest: government prices are not consistent with what we paid

hashtag_special

Amidst many obstacles that prevented the implementation of most agricultural plans, especially for strategic crops such as wheat and cotton, attention is turning to the cotton production season with the beginning of the harvest.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, the agricultural plan for the cotton crop was implemented only by 62 percent, due to several factors; Including the unavailability of production requirements such as fertilizers, fuels and irrigation, and the high wages of labor, in addition to setting the price of receiving the crop at a price inconsistent with production costs.

At a time when farmers are preparing to harvest the cotton crop, demands are raised to the concerned authorities to support it to receive it, and just as the government anticipates the date of planting it by raising its prices to encourage farmers to plant the largest possible amount, it must anticipate today the date of harvesting the crop, to announce an appropriate purchase price with the rises that have been made on Production requirements, especially diesel and fertilizers, whose prices have been raised several times.

These demands, which are declared by the cotton farmers, would “cut the way for smugglers who fled last year’s season to the north as a result of the difference in prices, amid the urgent need for it at the present time.”

Many experts in the field of agriculture believe that the government should look at the high costs incurred by farmers, the first of which is the high costs of production requirements, as fertilizer increased from 11,000 to 60,000 for a bag of urea fertilizer, and diesel oil rose from 185 to 500 pounds, and of course it is not available Except for pesticides and labor wages.

It is noteworthy that cotton operates a series of state facilities and laboratories, from ginning to spinning and knitting, to the production of fabrics and converting them into clothing, as well as cotton seeds and the manufacture of oils. Therefore, the cotton crop needs greater support than it is today, starting with the classification, which helps in setting prices and raising them on a particular type without another, it also needs preparation to market the season directly from the fields in order to prevent smuggling and block the way for traffickers in this important commodity for the national industry, especially the textile and oils sector…experts say.