SWABI: Wheat harvest has begun in the district with the farmers demanding of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to purchase their produce at a reasonable price.

The farmers of the Maneri region said they were already in financial difficulties because hailstones extensively damaged their crops recently.

Khalid Khan, district president of Kisan Board, a farmers’ wing of Jamaat-i-Islami, said last year wheat of Punjab had flooded the local markets, which resulted in slashing of the wheat price from Rs6,500 per 50 kilogrammes to only Rs3,600.

“This year the Punjab wheat has once again reached the local markets and people are buying it according to their annual requirements,” he said, adding poor farmers did not know how to cope with present difficult situation.

The farmers said they had to spend huge amounts on production of wheat, and not being able to even meet the cost pushed them deep into financial mess, and discouraged them to grow wheat.

Azizur Rehman, a farmer, said their input costs had skyrocketed, but they didn’t get fair price for their produce.

He said climate change had also taken a heavy toll on their incomes, and urged the government to help farmers tackle the effects of climate change.

MAN KILLS EX-WIFE: A man shot dead his former wife in front of her brother over a dowry dispute, the police said on Saturday.

According to the FIR lodged with the Swabi city police station, Abdul Wahab, a resident of Kotha, said his 30-year-old sister was married to Rafiq Mohammad, a resident of Marghuz, in 2021.

“After getting divorced a year ago due to some discord, her sister filed a petition against her ex-husband with a local jirga to get back dowry, which angered the man.

The complainant said that they were returning from Panjpir village when Rafiq came from behind on a motorcycle and started firing at his sister with a pistol, killing her on the spot.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2025