BY: FT Correspondent:
ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Kisan Wing has announced a nationwide movement “Save Agriculture, Save Pakistan” (Ziraat Bachao, Pakistan Bachao) to save agrarian economy from further downfall. The initiative aims to forge a formidable, non-partisan alliance bringing together all agricultural bodies, farm laborers, and rural workers under a single banner. To drive this campaign, extensive nationwide consultations have already been launched, engaging key stakeholders alongside 97 percent of Pakistan’s small and medium-scale farmers.
This announcement was made during a late-night press briefing addressed by PTI Kisan Wing Central Information Secretary Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich, alongside PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, Naeem Haider Panjutha, and other key party leaders.
Addressing media representatives regarding the critical challenges confronting the rural economy, Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich stated that under the vision of Imran Khan, the central leadership of PTI and its Kisan Wing are embarking on a fresh struggle to eliminate the anti-agricultural policies responsible for the ongoing agro, especially wheat crisis. Criticizing the double standards of the current administration, he pointed out that while rulers make grandiloquent claims of attracting foreign investment into the country, they are simultaneously destroying existing investments in agriculture, the paramount pillar of the national economy and effectively forcing farmers to abandon fertile agricultural lands for housing schemes and commercial ventures.
Sadhraich emphasized that the severe financial hardship and utter desolation currently suffered by hardworking farmers who invest their hard-earned capital into their soil is entirely unprecedented in the entire history of both independent Pakistan and undivided India. He posed a fundamental question to the authorities, when a farmer is denied a fair return on his labor and investment, how can he be expected to invest in the future cultivation of wheat and other essential crops? He declared that the primary root cause of the current wheat crisis lies in the flawed agricultural and import policies adopted at the government level which have not only inflicted massive losses on growers but have also burdened the national exchequer with unnecessary debt.
Highlighting PTI’s past performance, Sadhraich recalled that during the PTI tenure the wheat support price was progressively and significantly increased to ensure that growers received a rewarding price for their produce. After remaining frozen at roughly 1,300 PKR per maund for several years under previous regimes, the PTI government systematically raised it to 1,800 PKR, then 2,400 PKR, and ultimately to 3,900 PKR per maund, setting both the farming community and the country on a path toward genuine prosperity. However, the present rulers subsequently slashed the official wheat support price despite causing an immense surge in the prices of basic agricultural inputs.
Elaborating on the economic distress, Salman Akram Raja and Naeem Haider Panjutha stated that while farm production costs continue to skyrocket relentlessly, the prevailing market price of wheat in numerous regions fails to even cover the basic expense of production. They pointed out that electricity tariffs, which once stood at a nominal few rupees per unit, have multiplied several times over, accompanied by exorbitant and unprecedented price hikes in essential commodities like fertilizer and diesel. They stressed that approximately 97 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural community consists of small and medium-sized farmers holding only a few acres of land. Historically, these growers relied on their crop income to manage household operational costs, educate their children, marry off their daughters, build homes and meet basic family necessities but under the current economic conditions they are sinking deeper into severe debt with each passing year.
The PTI leaders affirmed that the party and its Kisan Wing will establish seamless coordination to consolidate farmers, agricultural workers, and farmer bodies onto a single unified platform. They clarified that this movement is driven solely by paramount national interest, completely devoid of political opportunism and aimed exclusively at rescuing the country’s rural economy from falling into an abyss of destruction. Expressing deep regret and astonishment, they highlighted the glaring injustice where a farmer is forced to sell his hard-earned wheat crop at a distress price of 2,800 PKR per maund in the field, only to be forced to buy back the same wheat later for household consumption at 5,000 to 5,500 PKR per maund, while state-patronized private companies and middleman mafias amass massive fortunes. They asserted that this oppressive system will no longer be tolerated as helpless and devastated farmers have no choice left but to embark on a joint national struggle.
Responding to queries from journalists on the occasion, Salman Akram Raja stated that the government will not be able to keep Imran Khan incarcerated for much longer. He announced that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in lockstep with its allied and like-minded political parties, will launch a movement for the immediate release of Imran Khan, while simultaneously formulating a robust legislative and political resistance strategy inside Parliament.
