Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) in second phase of its ‘Save Farmer-Save Pakistan’ movement will be staging sit-in at all the district headquarters today besides holding demonstration on important thoroughfares and bridges to press the government for acceptance of its demands.
Provincial heads and district presidents will lead these demonstrations and sit-in in their respective areas, said KBP Central Secretary Information Haji Muhammad Ramzan here on Wednesday. KBP Central President has urged the federal and provincial governments to save the agriculture from destruction and take immediate practical steps for safeguarding the rights of small growers.
Demands of the growers include re-fixation of sugarcane price in provinces after consultation with stakeholders. Immediate start of crushing season and payment to sugarcane growers through cheque instead of Cane Procurement Receipt (CPR) are two other demands of the farmers.
They are also demanding printing of price on every fertiliser bag and fixing of minimum purchase price of cotton and paddy after consultation with all the stakeholders. The Board is also demanding withdrawal of General Sales Tax (GST) on all agricultural inputs, protection of rights of tobacco growers and computerisation of all the land records.
They are also demanding flat rates of electricity for growers of all the provinces for agricultural tube-wells as being applied on these tube wells in Balochistan province. They are also demanding immediate construction of dams to overcome the shortage of water and electricity in the country.
KBP President Sardar Zafar while addressing the provincial and district office-bearers of the Board on telephone vowed to continue the protest movement till acceptance of their demands. He said that the growers would besiege provincial and federal assemblies in next phase if government failed to accept their demands.
