Announce wheat, sugarcane policies: PKI

Farmers demand resolution of problems as cost surges

MULTAN:

Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) Chairman Khalid Khokhar has urged the government to announce wheat and sugarcane policies at the earliest.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, he said the cost of production had increased manifold and farmers were in a state of confusion. He asked the government to announce a wheat policy to address the concerns of growers.

Khokhar observed that food security had become a global issue as experts called it more essential than even border security. The PKI chairman noted that there was a sharp decline in the production of cotton, estimated at nearly 64%. Discussing the reasons, he stated that the cost of production, climate change and low return on produce drove the decline in the output of "white gold".

He stressed that the government should conduct a forensic audit of the bills of farmers, who were ready to pay but there should be a transparent audit to the satisfaction of growers.

Regarding sugarcane crop, he demanded the release of pending payments to growers, which was nearly Rs20 billion.