RECORDER REPORT

PESHAWAR: Growers have expressed serious concern over the decreasing yield of various crops and vegetables in Peshawar and urged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership to pay special attention on improvement of agriculture otherwise farmers will start protest demonstrations.

Talking to media persons a number of farmers led by Rashid Mehmood Khan here on Wednesday said that growers were being faced with multiple problems which had caused decrease in yield of various crops and vegetables.

He said over 70 percent population of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was depending on agriculture and if government failed to provide sufficient incentives to the farmers the poverty would increase and the worst affected would be the agriculturists.

Rashid Khan recalled that the previous provincial government of PTI had announced Insaf Food Programme with the claim to give incentives to the growers in order to increase produce of different crops in the province but it failed to materialize its plan.

“We are going to organize farmers conference in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wherein the participants will discuss their problems and devise strategy to raise their genuine demands at the provincial and federal level otherwise the agriculture produce will not increase,” he said.

Rashid Khan, who belongs to Pakistan Muslim League-N, claimed that it was his party’s previous government which gave incentives to the farmers and resolved farmers’ maximum issues.

About the problems being faced by the growers, he said that shortage of irrigation water was one of the main problems as water supply in the main canals had been stopped on name of desilting and the supply was yet to start despite passage of many months.

Besides, he said the increasing prices of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides was another serious issue because most of the farmers belonged to humble family background and could not afford to purchase such items before marketing their crops/ vegetables.

The government, he said should provide interest-free agriculture loans on easy instalments so that the growers could play vital role in increasing the production of crops, different kinds of vegetables and fruits in respective areas.