Pakistan Farmers Demand Rs5,000 Support Price for Wheat Amid Government Delay
Pakistan Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Khokhar has demanded a support price of Rs5,000 per 40kg for wheat, warning that farmers may not sow wheat for the next season if the government delays announcing crop policies. The current sowing season is about to begin, but the government has yet to announce its policy for wheat.
Farmers are struggling to recover production costs and cannot afford balanced fertiliser use, according to Khokhar. DAP consumption has fallen from 2.39 million tonnes to 1.25m tonnes, he claimed. 'Give farmers the international market price for wheat and they will deliver record production,' said Khokhar.
Khokhar also spoke about sugarcane cultivation, which has increased by 16 percent to 2.454 million acres. Sugar production is expected to rise by 25-30pc. He urged the government to retain sufficient stocks of sugar for domestic consumption until November and export the surplus to prevent losses to growers.
Khokhar warned that failure to export surplus sugar would depress sugarcane prices, inflicting losses on farmers with repercussions for subsequent crops. 'If the government wants deregulation, it should deregulate the entire sector rather than selectively deregulating sugarcane,' he said, stressing that food security should remain the government's priority.
Another leader, Mahmoodul Hassan Bukhari, criticised the government for delaying decisions despite having crop and stock data. He warned that farmers might not sow wheat if a policy is not announced promptly.