LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party has asked the government to ensure procurement of surplus wheat from farmers and it should be without political considerations of the ruling party.

“In the face of bumper wheat crop this year, the farmers will offer much more than the four million tonnes of wheat for procurement. The procurement target will inevitably push the poor growers at the mercy of middleman to their acute disadvantage,” PPP Central Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo said here on Saturday.

He pointed out that growers of rice, sugarcane, maze, wheat and potato had been suffering huge losses due to anti-farmer policies of the government during the last two years. “The farmers cannot withstand the burden of the government policies any more,” he said.

He said the agriculture sector was backbone of the economy and its contribution to the GDP stood around 25 per cent and two-third population of the country’s livelihood depended on this sector, directly or indirectly.

Wattoo said the textile sector contributed 60 per cent of the total exports for which the agriculture sector provided raw material at affordable rates enabling it to earn a competitive edge in the international market.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2015

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