• PTI farmers’ wing says growers have no access to inputs for Rabi season, term govt relief ‘insufficient and disappointing’
• Calls for ‘National Agriculture Restoration Policy’

ISLAMABAD: The PTI’s Kisaan Wing (PTI-KW) has urged the federal and provincial governments to prioritise the restoration of agriculture sector, which suffered large-scale devastation due to the recent floods across the country, calling for the immediate formulation of a ‘National Agriculture Restoration Policy’.

This demand was made through a unanimous resolution passed at the PTI-KW meeting held on Sunday. The meeting was chaired by PTI-KW Organiser and MNA Sheikh Waqqas Akram, and attended by Central Information Secretary Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich, PTI Kisan Wing Punjab President Major (R) Ghulam Sarwar, General Secretary Muhammad Ijaz Shafi, MNA Khurram Shahzad Virk and a number of office bearers from various farmers’ organisations.

Briefing the media after the meeting, PTI-KW spokesperson Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich expressed deep concerns over the authorities’ handling of the post-flood situation. He said the recent floods caused a large-scale destruction across the country, resulting in estimated losses exceeding Rs822 billion. “The federal government’s preliminary flood damage assessment report admitted this loss, but the actual losses could be even higher as a detailed post-disaster assessment is still underway”, he added.

Mr Sadhraich said the meeting expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s post-flood relief and rehabilitation measures, terming them “highly disappointing” for the affected people, particularly farmers. He noted the initial estimates put the losses in agriculture sector alone at around Rs430 billion, excluding livestock and damage to the canal system.

“With the Rabi season fast approaching, helpless farmers have no access to basic inputs for sowing their crops, while they are being offered a mere Rs20,000 to Rs25,000 as compensation against losses worth millions,” he said.

The meeting emphasised the urgent need for rebuilding the destroyed agricultural infrastructure and called on the government to give the matter top priority. It also stressed the immediate formulation of a National Agriculture Restoration Policy and the creation of a committee comprising senior government officials and farmers’ representatives to rebuild the country’s agricultural economy, Mr Sadhraich concluded.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2025