Wheat farmers threaten protest in Pakistan

Sardar Zafar Hussain, president of the Kisan Board Pakistan, announced at a press conference here on Friday as quoted by Dawn News that demonstrations would be held at all district headquarters and other major towns in the province to make the government procure at least five million tonnes of wheat in the current season and that grain support price be raised from current Rs3,900 to Rs5,000 per 40kg.

Flanked by Akhtar Farooq Meo and Mian Rashid Minhala, he alleged that the government was deliberately delaying the wheat procurement campaign because of which the prices of grain in the open market were on the decline.

He demanded that the government should not only increase the official support price to Rs5,000 per 40 but also enhance its procurement target from 2m tonnes to 5m tonnes to stabilize the local market.