Farmers threaten hunger strike in Islamabad if wheat price not fixed

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Kisan Ittehad, Khalid Hussain Bath, has warned that if the government fails to fix the wheat price, farmers will be left with no option but to stage a hunger strike in Islamabad, ARY News reported.

According to ARY News, Khalid Hussain Bath addressed a press conference in Islamabad, stating that after Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s recent announcement, wheat prices have dropped by another Rs 400 per 40 kg.

“We are being told that the wheat will not be purchased directly by the government but by a third party—but how will Punjab’s farmers understand a European-style procurement system?” he questioned. “Farmers don’t even understand how to use storage systems.”

He urged CM Punjab to stop making policy decisions solely based on bureaucrats’ advice. “Listen to the farmers, have mercy on them,” he said. “The storage system will only give rise to a new wave of corruption.”

Read More: Kisan Card: Maryam Nawaz approves Rs 15bn for wheat farmers

Khalid Bath further explained that wheat has been cultivated on 12.5 million acres in Punjab.

“If the government does not set a fixed price, the market will collapse, and the billions of rupees the government is spending will end up in the pockets of mafias rather than farmers.”

He pointed out that farmers currently don’t even have money for basic needs. “If wheat is not purchased now, farmers will not grow wheat next season,” he warned.

“Four months later, wheat won’t be available in the market even if we go looking for it,” he added. “And then the government will end up importing wheat from abroad. It would be far better to purchase it from our own farmers now.”

Earlier, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif approved Rs 15 billion for farmers of the province under the wheat support fund under the Kisan Card programme.

The Wheat farmers will be given direct financial support through Kisan Card. The Punjab government termed the package as the ‘first unique, exemplary and unprecedented’ in the history of the province for the wheat farmers in Punjab.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif also announced an exemption from paying irrigation/fixed tax for the wheat farmers during the current year. Under the package, a free storage Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWR) facility will also be provided for four months to protect wheat from climate change effects and farmers from market pressure.