KARAK: The local groundnut growers have demanded of the government to help them in getting access to the bigger markets in the country.

They said that groundnut was a cash crop of the farmers of the district but they had no access to the market. They said that yield was less in the current year due to un-conducive environment.

They also demanded of the government to train the farmers to get more yield of the crop in the district.

Zameer Khan, a local farmer, said that they were depended to great extent on the crop but that year their produce was not as per their expectations due to un-conducive environment including rain on improper time.

Zahoor Shah, another grower, said that Banda Daud Shah tehsil and Countra area of Karak tehsil were producing delicious groundnut.

He said that they had not direct access to the bigger markets of the country and local traders were exploiting them. He said that government should create linkages between local farmers and bigger markets of the country.

Iqbal Khattak, the president of the farmers association, said that they had demanded of the experts at research centre of Ahmadwala to work on producing quality seeds of groundnuts that could survive harsh weather.

Saeed Khan, district director of agriculture department, asked the farmers to contact the agriculture office for productive consultations to increase per acre yield of groundnuts and other crops in the district.

ARREST OF ROBBERS DEMANDED: Khattak Ittehad, a local rights organisation, has demanded of district police officer Nausher Khan Mohmand to ensure arrest of the culprits involved in looting Rs2.5 million from a franchise of a mobile phone company.

The demand was made by the organisation’s member Ahmad Jan, while talking to mediapersons on Wednesday. He regretted that the robbers managed to escape on two motorcycles without any hindrance after looting the shop in broad daylight the other day.

He said the incident had created a sense of insecurity among the people as it took place in the main city during the day.

Also, a jirga held in Takht-i-Nusrati expressed concern over the increasing incidents of motorcycles lifting and asked the police to arrest the culprits.

Meanwhile, unknown robbers broke a shop in Sabirabad area and took away various items on Tuesday night.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2019