PESHAWAR, Jan 25: The NWFP chapter of the Kissan Board on Thursday demanded of the government to reduce the prices of agricultural inputs – electricity, gas, petroleum and fertilisers – by at least 50 per cent so the prices of agricultural products could be decreased and burden on the common man lessened.

Addressing a news conference here on Thursday, provincial president of the board Rana Murad Ali Khan announced the launch of ‘Zarat Bachao Tehrik’ to press the government to resolve the problems of farmers.

He said protest demonstration and seminars would be held as part of the movement across the country. Even if the government did not take any notice, a protest march towards Islamabad would be launched in the first week of April and a sit-in staged there till the acceptance of the demands, he said.

Mr Khan said local farmers were suffering from economic paralysis due to cheap agriculture products from India.

Giving a comparison of the prices of agricultural inputs and products from India and Pakistan, he said the fertiliser sold in Pakistan for Rs658 per sack was available to farmers in India at Rs540. Similarly, he added, the fertiliser priced at Rs525 per sack in Pakistan was available in India at Rs335.“In India, electricity is provided to farmers against Rs0.6 per unit while here the figure is Rs3.28 per unit. Similarly, tractors, seed and pesticides are far cheaper in India than here,” he said.

For the same reasons, sugar was available in India at Rs27 per kg as against Rs34 per kg here, said the Kisan Board president.

Anti-farmers policies of the government and high cost of production were discouraging local farmers, and the government was importing sugar, onion and even potato from India, he said, adding that if the prices of agriculture inputs were low, local farmers would be producing sufficient quantities.

Replying to a question, he denied that gur was being smuggled to Afghanistan. It was a propaganda of sugar mill owners who wanted to bring down the gur industry in the province to boost their business, he said.