HYDERABAD, May 15: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has expressed concern over instructions of the Sindh Revenue Board that joint agricultural property above 50 acres will be subject to land and agriculture tax. The letter of the board’s secretary in this regard was read out and discussed at a meeting here on Sunday.

SCA leader Syed Qamar-uz-Zaman Shah presided over the meeting.

The secretary said even if there were 10 joint khatidars of agriculture land exceeding 50 acres, they would be liable to land and agriculture tax.

The meeting termed it as injustice with small khatedars and called upon the farmers to submit applications to the secretary for breakup of land holdings.

The meeting said if the secretary did not take the initiative, the farmers who owned less than 50 acres of land would not pay the taxes.

The meeting appealed to the Sindh chief minister and revenue minister to take notice of the letter to restore justice to small farmers.

Earlier, Syed Qamar-uz-Zaman Shah had called upon farmers to minimize their land holding otherwise they would have to pay land tax and agriculture income tax if joint property exceeds the statutory limit of 16 acres.

In a statement issued here on Friday, he said the Sindh Board of Revenue had refused to accept the chamber’s recommendations to exempt the joint property from the land tax and agriculture income tax.

He said the chamber had recommended to the board that those farmers who had less than 16 acres of land but their land was included in joint property should be exempted from the payment of land tax and agriculture income tax but the board had refused to accept the recommendations.

He said the board had made it clear that this tax would be applicable on lands over 16 acres irrespective of the number of joint property owners.

He urged the farmers to get the land separated from the joint property and seek registration of their share of land in their own names.

BEST GROWER: A member of the general council of the Sindh Abadgar Board and a progressive farmer, Syed Nadeem Shah, has been named the best cotton grower of Sindh.

He will be given the best grower award by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Lahore on May 17.

Sindh Abadgar Board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani in a statement issued here on Sunday said it was for the first time in the history of Pakistan that importance of the agriculture sector had been publicly acknowledged by the federal government.

He said the selection of Syed Nadeem Shah as the best cotton grower was not only an honour for Mr Shah and the SAB but also for the entire farming community.

Mr Nizamani demanded that the government should also announce the best grower award for wheat, rice, seed, vegetables, fruits and flower growers and also the best livestock owner to encourage the agriculture sector.