Several districs across the country saw huge protests by irate farmers, who took to the streets against the wheat crisis. Coordinated protests unfolded in more than a hundred cities across all four provinces, on International Farmers’ Day on the call of the Pakistan Kisan Rabita Committee. Farmers demanded that the government fix the wheat support price at Rs4,000 per maund (40kg) and reverse policies related to corporate farming and agricultural privatisation.
In Lahore, outside the Press Club, the street was filled with hundreds of farmers, staging a demonstration. Leaders of various farmer organisations made speeches and protesters carried banners and placards calling for an end to corporate farming, restoration of state-led wheat procurement, and protection of tenant farmers from eviction.
Farmers protest in 100 cities
In Punjab, demonstrations took place in Lahore, Bahawalpur, Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Khanewal, Kabirwala, Kacha Khuh, Jahanian, Iqbal Nagar, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Pakpattan, Arifwala, Vehari, Hasilpur, Multan, Kot Addu, Qadirabad, Chishtian and Burewala.
In Sindh, farmers staged protests in Shikarpur, Sukkur, Tando Allahyar, Sakarand, Nawabshah, Moro, Noshehro Feroze, Qazi Ahmed, Ghotki, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Hyderabad, Shahdadkot, Nagarparkar, Sanghar, Thatta and Larkana.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demonstrations were reported from Peshawar, Kohat, Charsadda, Malakand, Swabi, Buner, Nowshera, Mohmand, Swat, Bajaur, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Takht Bhai, Bannu, Karak, Hangu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.
In Balochistan, protests were held in Quetta, Qila Abdullah, Nasirabad, Jhal Magsi, Jafarabad, Usta Muhammad, Sohbatpur and Kalat.
‘Significant losses’
Addressing the gathering in Lahore, Kisan Rabita Committee General Secretary Riffat Maqsood said that farmers had suffered significant losses over the past two years due to declining crop prices and rising input costs. She said that crops including potatoes, cauliflower, sesame and others had faced “record losses” this year, with no compensation provided by the authorities.
She criticised the government’s decision to hand over wheat procurement to private companies, stating that the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) role had been reduced. She said that under the new arrangement, wheat would be purchased by private companies through middlemen and stored in government warehouses.
She added that it was unlikely private companies would offer farmers Rs. 3,500 per 40 kilograms of wheat under the revised procurement mechanism.
Farooq Tariq, President of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party, also addressed the Lahore gathering and said that tenant farmers cultivating land for decades were facing eviction under corporate farming and government-backed agricultural initiatives. He said eviction notices had been issued in areas including Hasilpur.
He said that tenant farmers would resist any attempts to remove them from their lands and would continue peaceful protest against what he described as forced displacement linked to corporate farming projects.
Pakistan Kisan Rabita Committee Central Secretary Information Hasnain Jamil Faridi said in his address that Pakistan’s agriculture sector was facing a severe crisis and described the situation as “near collapse”. He demanded that the minimum support price for wheat be fixed at Rs. 4,000 per maund and called for official pricing mechanisms for all major crops.
He also rejected reported conditions linked to the International Monetary Fund regarding taxation on agricultural tube wells, terming them unacceptable for the farming community.
Pakistan Kisan Rabita Committee demanded the immediate restoration of wheat procurement at the official support price and the revival of state procurement mechanisms. It called for an end to the privatisation of wheat purchasing and corporate control over agriculture, and demanded that wheat prices be fixed at Rs. 4,000 per maund.
The committee also demanded compensation for losses suffered by farmers of potatoes, cauliflower, peas, sesame and other crops, and called for an end to corporate farming and eviction of tenant farmers.
Further demands included granting land ownership rights to tenant farmers, landless peasants and agricultural labourers, and the withdrawal of eviction notices from various state-run farms, including Katore Farm, Hasilpur and Muhammad Nagar Seed Farm Arifwala.
