Real boost will not take place till poor farmers are liberated from life of slavery, empowered to make decent living.
KARACHI: The government must initiate immediate reforms that have a direct influence on the country’s poor farmers. These reforms should lead to the implementation of a nation-wide change of rules setting minimum wage standards, availing discounts on seeds, debt consolidation and the bridging of the gap between the farmer and the retailer. Boosting agriculture does not mean that the government should sanction endless subsidies to upper-class farmers only who make up the feudal class of Pakistan.
A real boost will not take place till the poor farmers are liberated from a life of slavery and empowered enough to make a decent living for their families. Rapid urbanisation of our farmers, who are giving up farming, is a grave threat to the future of food security in Pakistan.
Syed Faraz Uddin
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2014.
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