Agriculture: New taxes on sector opposed by Sindh Chamber

Growers say new taxes will be detrimental to agricultural growth.

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has rejected the proposal of levying new taxes on the agriculture sector.

At a meeting on Thursday, the growers’ representatives called upon the government to withdraw its decision to impose taxes in the interest of the growth of the agriculture sector.

“The proposed income tax on agriculture will prove to be very harmful for agricultural production as well as the prices of goods in the market,” said the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture’s vice president, Mir Murad Talpur.

He believed the prices of agriculture goods will increase rapidly as a result of the imposition.

The growers also demanded an end to water supply rotation in the distributaries of the River Indus linked with the off-taking canals of Sukkur and Kotri barrages.

The participants of the meeting also passed a resolution calling for a ban on the import of peppers from India and the revocation of the Agriculture Ordinance 2001.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.