LAHORE: Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has said that no government in the country so far had given agriculture its due importance due to which the plight of growers was pitiable.
Talking to a Kisan Board Pakistan delegation at Mansoora on Monday, he said that Pakistan could not be put on the path of progress and prosperity without ameliorating the lot of the 70 per cent population depending on agriculture.
Sirajul Haq said that the government had neither ensured the payments of the sugar cane growers arrears by the sugar mills nor raised the sugar cane procurement price to Rs. 250 per maund.
The government had promised cash support of Rs. 5000 per acre to the paddy and cotton growers owning up to twelve and a half acres of land but the money was distributed among big landowners and vaderas sitting in the corridors of power. As a result, the problems of the small farmers were increasing.
The JI Secretary General, JI deputy chief Mian Muhammad Aslam and KBP chairman Ch. Nisar Ahmed Advocate were present.
The JI chief demanded fixation of the procurement price of Basmati paddy at Rs. 2500 per maund and that of cotton at Rs. 4,000 per bale.
He said that at present, Basmati paddy was being sold at Rs. 1700 per maund due to which the grower was incurring losses.
He said that the government expressing sympathies with the growers was practically trying to deceive the kisans once again.
The government was promoting corruption in every sphere and despite assurance, the sales tax on fertilizer and pesticides had not been abolished.
Sirajul Haq said that the kisans living in rural areas did not have approach to the bank. Besides, traditionally, they were not inclined to getting bank loans. As a result, only the agriculturists having linked with the government alone would benefit from the facility.
He called for interest free loans to the small farmers. He said the State Bank had chalked out various schemes in this regard but there seemed to be lack of will on the part of the government.
