Farmers leader blasts "increasing taxes on agriculture sector"

MULTAN: Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has blasted imposition of the “taxes on the agriculture sector on the demand of the IMF”.

President Farmers Alliance Khalid Mehmood Khokhar addressing a news conference in Multan alleged that the rulers living a luxurious life over the loans borrowed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He apprehended that the agriculture sector will be destroyed with imposition of taxes and demanded declaration of an agriculture emergency.

He said destruction of agriculture will collapse the country’s economy. He asked rulers to give attention to the farming sector.

He demanded of the government to fix the support price of the wheat and hold meetings with regard to cultivation of the wheat crop.

He also urged for slashing the urea prices down. “He warned of the wheat crisis, if the government failed to give attention to the crop”.

“We are an agro-based country, still we import around 10 to 12 billion dollars farm commodities from abroad,” he said.

Farmers leader said that the climate change has adversely affected the crops yield, around 54 % drop in cotton production has badly affected the farming community.

He said the government offering nine billion rupees subsidy on tractors, while imposing 22 billion rupees taxes, which has pushed the tractor industry on the verge of collapse, “This year only 3,000 tractors have been sold,” he added.