ABBOTTABAD, March 4: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should impose immediate ban on the genetically modified seed of maize and others distributed by an American company in the province.

This was demanded by the office-bearers of the Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehrik, while addressing a press conference at Haripur Press Club the other day.

The press conference was jointly addressed by the coordinators of Sindh Raja Mujeeb, KP Iltaf Hussain, Azra Talat of Karachi, local coordinator Mohammad Rafiq and central coordinator Ali Akabr of Charsadda.

They said that newly introduced modified seeds introduced by a US company were putting extra burden on the soil. They added that the new seed required three times higher use of fertiliser and ten-fold extra water, which affects the quality of the crop and destroys the soil.

They said Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehrik was launching a drive to create awareness among farmers about the hazards of the modified seed as the government of Punjab had also imposed ban on modified cotton seed, which was named as Monsanto cotton seed.

They also demanded free distribution of seeds and land to farmers of the country. They said efforts should be made to bring revolutionary changes in the agriculture sector as Pakistan was basically an agrarian country and could earn handsome revenue through agriculture products.

They said as Pakistan was lagging behind in industrial sector the government should focus on agriculture and give incentives to farmers to give a boost to the economy.