ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram has lambasted the regime for allegedly crippling all key sectors of the country that were performing better under the Imran Khan-led government.

In a statement issued on Monday, the PTI leader said: “Anti-people and anti-fa­rmer policies have pushed the economy to a grinding halt, leaving the country’s agricultural backbone in deep distress and severely paralysing the overall economic system.”

He warned that unless immediate, comprehensive, and practical policy corrections were made, the country risks not only a decline in wheat production but also a looming food crisis.

The PTI leader said that across the country, the deepening wheat crisis and grave challenges faced by farmers were posing serious risks to the agriculture, adding that in the current season, uncertainty in wheat pricing, flawed government procurement arrangements, non-availability of gunny bags, and the growing dominance of middlemen in markets have financially paralysed growers.

“Despite the announcement of a support price of Rs3,500 per maund, this rate does not reflect the actual cost of production because the per-acre cost of wheat cultivation, driven by an unprecedented increase in fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, water charges, diesel, harvesting, and threshing, has risen to nearly Rs210,000,” he said.

Akram said that with an average yield of 45 maunds per acre, farmers could recover only around Rs150,000, resulting in a direct loss of approximately Rs60,000 per acre.

He said that instead of ensuring direct and timely government procurement, the Punjab government has shifted to a new model under which 11 private companies were tasked with wheat purchase.

The PTI leader said that these companies have been provided extraordinary facilitation, including access to hundreds of government warehouses, billions of rupees’ worth of gunny bags, subsidised bank financing with 70pc interest borne by the government, and a guaranteed profit margin.

However, he said, despite that, the procurement centres remained either non-functional or too few in number, forcing farmers, particularly in the south of Punjab, to sell their produce to middlemen at Rs2,800-Rs2,900 per maund.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2026