A Sector Waiting Salvation
- Imran Hotiana Advocate, Lahore

AGRI sector CM’s priority (News item): There is a ban on even inter district movement of wheat (farmers' largest bread earning crop) while there has never been any such restriction on any other sector.

Purpose of this ban is to force the farmers to sell their grain to the government for a much lower price (Rs:350/40 kg) than what it paid to import an even inferior quality wheat last year (final cost around Rs:500/40 kg).

This unjustified price check system is being followed despite the well known fact that prices of all other necessities like clothing, shelter, oil, petroleum and even of the agriculture inputs used for wheat production is on a steep hike (DAP fertilizer’s last year price Rs:780, current price Rs:1000).

Mr. CM declared this priority while distributing government owned land among poor people that must have cost public exchequer crores of rupees. I am really unsure if only this shows any contribution towards the real agri sector; and, I further can’t see if anyone even a CM has a right to distribute something that is not his personal property among people to earn his government a good name.

One last thing that the government claims to be doing for this sector is agri loans. I wonder if loans that can only be got after bribes and sitting for days on the doorsteps of bank officials at an exorbitant interest rates (Agri loans: 14% with no benefits and payable in 6 months, further it is never written off what ever calamity has struck the poor farmers; other business loans even less than 8% with many benefits and payable in a period of 10 and further extendable, further thousands of examples are available where loans were written off on different excuses) is doing any good to farmers. Such loans, to me, are only adding to their miseries by pushing them further deep into debt.

After this bird's eye view of what is actually happening out there everyone can see the hollowness in the above mentioned rhetoric. Yes Mr CM, whatever you say!●

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