CHARSADDA: The people of Charsadda, particularly farmers, have expressed concern over the rapid growth of unplanned housing schemes, establishment of commercial plazas and other settlements, saying that the menace is fast ruining the agriculture landscape of the district.

Kisan Board district president Haji Farmanullah, Aiwan-i-Zarat press secretary Tahir Khan and farmers, including Zarin Gul, Yahya Jan, Gul Sadiq and others, told Dawn on Friday that Charsadda had a very fertile land as three major rivers – Kabul, Swat and Jindi – were flowing through its lush green plains.

They said that tobacco, sugarcane, sugar beat, wheat, maize etc were the major crops of Charsadda. They said that vegetables like potato, cabbage, brinjal, okra, spinach and tomato were also being cultivated on a large scale and being taken to markets in Peshawar and others districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They said that orchards of apricot, citrus, plum, strawberry, pears etc covered a vast area of the district.

Mr Farmanullah said that fertile lands of this district could play a pivotal role in jacking up agricultural productivity of the country. However, he said that unplanned residential schemes had been springing up on fertile agricultural land at Tarnab Road, Sholgra, Charsadda-Peshawar Road, Ghani Khan Road and Mardan Road with the result that small farmers were abandoning agriculture and migrating to big cities in search of livelihood.

Farmers call for stopping residential buildings on fertile land

Opposing the trend of erecting tall buildings, plazas and industrial units, Tahir Khan feared that thousands of acres of agricultural land would be converted into an unplanned urban construction which was a matter of concern for the farmers.

The stakeholders said that the district administration should take steps for stopping residential buildings on the fertile land. They said that only barren land should be used for construction activities and if the practice continued and the government did not take notice soon the fertile land would vanish, which would badly affect the production of crops, vegetables and fruits.

They regretted that lukewarm attitude of the agriculture department to provide standard seed, pesticides and fertiliser to local farmers was another main cause of dwindling productivity of this soil. They called upon the authorities to ensure provision of these items on low prices to farmers.

The said that the government had been receiving millions of rupees as cess on tobacco, sugarcane and other crops, and as such it should fix proper rates of these crops to provide maximum benefit to farmers. They also urged the government to provide interest-free loans to the farmers to enable them increase production of the major crops.

When contacted, deputy commissioner Fazalur Rehman told Dawn that the local administration would take action against rapid growth of residential settlements on fertile lands. However, he said that there was a need for proper legislation to ban unplanned urbanisation.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2014