Overdue: ‘Sugar mills owe Rs1 bn to farmers’

FAISALABAD:

Scores of farmers led by Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) on Sunday staged a protest demonstration, saying the government was not serious about resolving their problems.

They gathered at Khatm-i-Nawubat Chowk in Chiniot and chanted slogans against the chief minister.

KBP Chiniot president Zulfiqar Ali Shah said the farmers were being exploited.

“More than 70 per cent of the country’s population is directly or indirectly linked to the agriculture sector,” he said. “Farmers are producing food for the entire country and have a role in stabilising the economy.

He said instead of offering incentives to farmers, the government had imposed “illogical” taxes on them.

“Farmers are unable to purchase seeds and fertilisers,” he said. “Agricultural output has declined because farmers have no money to invest.”

He said growers were paid little for sugarcane, potato, rice, wheat and vegetables but middlemen were minting money.

He said farmers were not paid on time and often had no money to purchase seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.

Shah said Rs1 billion in arrears was owed by sugar mills. “No one is responding to our claims,” he said.

He said farmers led by the KBP would stage a demonstration in front of sugar mills on September 15 if the outstanding dues were not paid.

Shah said the government had been asked to fix support prices of more agricultural products to end exploitation of small farmers.

“If the government does not take notice of our problems, we will expand the scope of the protest,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2015.