LAHORE – Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) has termed the reversal of increase in the petroleum products as insufficient and urged the government to make at least 50 percent decrease in diesel prices. The board also demanded that prices of all inputs including fertilisers, electricity and pesticides should also be reduced by half to support the dying agricultural economy. KBP President Sardar Zafar Hussein and General Secretary Malik Muhammad Ramzan Rohari while reacting to the withdrawal of recent increase in petroleum products observed that this decrease was just peanuts and would not give any benefit to the farmers.
They claimed that various fertilisers had registered increase of many hundred rupees during last one week while electricity, pesticides and agricultural implements were also far from the purchasing power of the common farmer. They claimed that expensive electricity had closed thousands of agricultural tube wells. While less water availability for irrigation was also damaging the agriculture, they added.
KBP leaders also accused sugar, flour, rice and cotton millers of depriving the farmers of their due right. They said masses and farmers were finding it hard to even meet daily expenses. They said that the government should make fifty percent reduction in all the agricultural inputs and diesel prices to strengthen the weak agricultural sector.
