LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has opposed the government decision to import wheat.

“The farmers of Punjab are very worried today. There has never been such a bad situation. The decision to import wheat is wrong,” PPP Punjab Senior Vice President Rana Farooq Saeed and Information Secretary Shahzad Saeed Cheema told a press conference here on Saturday.

Rana Farooq said that in 2008, the PPP government had given a wheat support price of Rs900 to farmers and left the wheat stock of four years in 2013. He said wheat was being bought in the three provinces and only the farmers of Punjab were being abused.

He said Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz should stop this cruelty and save the farmers, otherwise they would not sow wheat in the future. He said despite cotton cultivation, the government support price had not been set.

“At least Rs11,000 per bale rate should be set. The TCP should buy all the cotton produced in the country and import should be banned,” he said.

The PPP leader also urged President Asif Ali Zardari to take notice of this situation. They said the corn crop had broken the farmer’s back. “Mills, traders and investors have lost their confidence. Give subsidy on green tubewells and electricity.”

The PPP said the Punjab government had not bought a grain of wheat in the market till now. Shahzad Cheema said the investor was buying wheat at Rs2,900. The government should not make a policy of importing wheat and start exporting it, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2024