Farmers threatening to stage protest outside Parliament House
KARACHI: Farmers’ organisations have announced a protest outside Parliament House in Islamabad on September 25, demanding the formulation of a wheat procurement policy, reduction in agricultural input costs, relief on diesel prices and a minimum support price of Rs650 per 40kg for sugarcane.
Addressing the media, Kisan Ittehad Central Chairman Khalid Hussain Batth and Sindh Abadgar Ittehad representative Nawab Zubair Talpur said wheat sowing would begin in October in Sindh and Balochistan and in November in Punjab, but no provincial government had so far announced a wheat procurement policy for the upcoming crop.
They claimed that farmers had been forced to sell wheat below its production cost for the past three years, discouraging cultivation and creating the need for imports. According to them, the government was now importing 750,000 metric tons of wheat at an estimated international cost of around USD380 million.
The farmers’ representatives said the current cost of wheat production was around Rs4,500 per 40kg and demanded a price that would provide farmers with a 20 per cent profit margin. They also pointed out that flour was currently selling at around Rs8,000 per 40kg, while, according to their claim, wheat had previously been taken from farmers at around Rs3,200 per 40kg.
They warned that if the government failed to adopt a farmer-friendly procurement policy, Pakistan could eventually be forced to import between 3.5 million and 4 million metric tons of wheat.
The farmers also demanded relief on diesel for the agriculture sector, saying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s announced fuel relief should also benefit farmers.
They further called for reductions in the prices of fertilisers, pesticides and electricity, saying high prices of DAP, urea, agricultural medicines and power had substantially increased production costs.
On sugarcane, the farmers said they had no objection to sugar exports but demanded payment of outstanding dues to growers and the start of the crushing season from November. They demanded that the minimum support price for sugarcane for the coming season be fixed at Rs650 per 40kg and announced in time.
On the water crisis, the farmers demanded effective implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty, saying water was not reaching tail-end areas of southern Punjab and Sindh. They also criticised India’s current approach towards the treaty and water-sharing issue.
They said Pakistan’s food security was directly linked to water availability and announced plans to approach the United Nations and other international organisations in Islamabad and submit letters seeking effective implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty.
The farmers’ leaders also demanded the immediate release of Kisan Ittehad Punjab General Secretary Malik Yasin Jhajh and other farmer activists who, they claimed, had been jailed for raising farmers’ issues.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026