MULTAN, Aug 1: The Farmers’ Associates of Pakistan has shown concern over resurgence of pernicious Cotton Leaf Curl Virus, calling for a probe to find out the causes of failure of the previous research conducted with millions of rupees to get rid of the menace.

Speaking at a press conference after the 94th extraordinary general-body meeting of the FAP on Thursday, its chairman Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed that the CLCV was once again playing havoc with cotton in the Punjab. The growers, he feared, would have to abandon the cash crop if the current situation persisted.

He said the FAP’s meeting had also expressed concern over the diminishing water resources and lack of official planning to face the future challenges. By 2025, the country would require 60m to 70m acres feet more water for sustainable agriculture, he said, stressing that the water-related matters needed an immediate national consensus for their solution.

According to the FAP chairman, only a multi-pronged strategy based on water conservation and development could be the answer to the crisis, which the country had been going through in the form of drought for the past five years.

The FAP was currently working in collaboration with Pildat (Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Training) to prepare a document for parliamentarians, who could open up a debate to do away with misunderstandings among the federating units over the share and development of water resources.

He said the prices of agricultural inputs were fast slipping out of the farmers’ reach. He added that the farmers did not demand any subsidy, but there was no logic to levy the GST on agricultural inputs.

Therefore, the FAP’s general-body demanded withdrawal of the GST from agricultural inputs, he stressed.

The FAP chairman said the developed countries had maintained double-standards because, on the one hand, they forbade subsidies for the agriculture sectors of the developing countries and, on the other hand, they paid subsidies worth $364 billion per annum to their farmers.

He claimed that Pakistan was not prepared to face the challenges of the World Trade Organization’s regime to be implemented by Jan 2005.

He also demanded even-handed treatment for both the industrial and agricultural sectors viz-a-viz mark-up on loans, concessions and incentives.