Protest demos staged across Punjab: Farmers seek profitable support price for wheat

LAHORE: On Tuesday, farmers across Punjab staged protest demonstrations at the call of Kissan Ittehad Pakistan (KIP) central chairman, Khalid Hussain Bath, demanding the government immediately set a profitable support price for wheat.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Khalid Hussain Bath stated that KIP workers held peaceful protests in front of district administration offices at both district and tehsil levels across the province.

“This was a peaceful protest — more of a warning to the government,” he said. “We demand that the government fix an appropriate and profitable price for wheat immediately. Otherwise, the next phase of protests will take place in the capital cities of all four provinces.”

He criticized exploitative market practices, calling them tantamount to “economic murder” of farmers. Bath claimed that while the cost of wheat production is around Rs 4,000 per maund, farmers are being compelled to sell it at just Rs 2,000 per maund.

Khalid urged the government to take urgent steps to ensure wheat cultivation remains profitable. “If our demands are not met, we will escalate the protests to Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Quetta — right in front of the provincial assemblies and the Parliament House. These, too, will be peaceful, but they will be our final warning,” he asserted.

In an earlier message to growers, he called for the wheat support price to be fixed at Rs 4,200 per maund.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025