KARACHI: Federal cabinet members from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) claimed on Monday that the centre had decided to reconsider the minimum support price for wheat after their protest, as they insisted that Rs3,000 per 40kg price, proposed by the cabinet, was too low to support the flood-hit agriculture sector.
The ministers had also demanded a debate over the issue in the next meeting of the cabinet to reach a consensus, after which they claimed the government retracted the summary proposing the support price.
In a press conference, PPP ministers termed the support price crucial for farmers in the backdrop of massive floods which inundated vast swathes of land. Floods also washed away over 4,000 million acres agricultural land, leaving the growers in immense need of financial assistance.
“We strongly protested over the summary moved today,” said Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar flanked by Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman.
“We categorically asked for its withdrawal and a new decision [to fix the support price]. We had reasons for such a stance and we shared [them] with the people concerned,” he said.
“We succeeded in convincing the government to withdraw the summary and fix the new support price after a detailed discussion in the cabinet meeting.”
Ms Rehman also shared reasons that pushed the PPP ministers for their “pro-farmers” position and referred to data that reflected the current state of the country’s agriculture sector. She said the support to farmers by the government would actually “avert the food security crisis” which loomed after the recent devastation by the floods.
“Some 4,410 million acre agriculture land is badly damaged by the floods,” she said, adding at least 72 per cent of agricultural land in Sindh and 21pc land in Balochistan were affected by the floods. “In such a situation, we need to support our farmers. The damage to this sector [due to floods] has already cost us a lot and it is time to stand firm with our farmers and give them better support price.”
Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2022