HYDERABAD, Dec 20: An agriculture reforms conference organised by the Sindh Hari Porhiyat Council held in front of the press club here on Saturday called for reforms in the agriculture sector and handing over of land to farmers so that they could utilise their full potential in improving the agriculture sector.

Those who spoke on the occasion included Punhal Sario, Ramzan Memon, Adam Malik, Wahab Pandhrani and others. They said that agricultural reforms were the need of the hour and land should be distributed among farmers without delay.

They said that seeking a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund would not be helpful as it would increase their problems.

They said that as long as feudalism existed, poor farmers would not be able to get their due rights. They opposed India-Pakistan war on any ground and said that simmering tension between the two countries was a conspiracy to raise defence budgets of the two countries.

They said that farmers had been exploited in the name of their fundamental rights by every successive government in the country. They said that while rulers talk about eating grass for the country’s well-being and defence, it were in fact masses who were eating grass while the rulers were visiting foreign countries at people’s expense.

They said that the economy of those countries, which had shown progress, was based on agriculture where peasants were owners of their agriculture lands. They added that they tilled their lands and raised their foreign exchange reserve besides giving impressive agricultural output.

Several resolutions were also adopted in the conference, maintaining that spiralling price hike continued in our country and were beyond our government’s control and people failed to get any relief despite remarkable drop in prices of petroleum products in the international market. It said that prices of edibles remained sky-rocketing.

It said that recent rains had caused losses in Sindh to a great extent therefore the province should be declared a calamity hit-area, which called for waiving-off the recovery of different agriculture-related revenue from growers. It said that all agricultural loans should be written off and they should rather be compensated for damages caused by rains.

The resolutions said that prices of crops should be fixed before their sowing. The conference demanded supply of irrigation water to tail-end growers through distributaries and called for an end to water rotation programme.

It was also demanded that basic commodities’ prices should be controlled and they be made available to people at affordable prices.

It said that forced labour from peasants should be curbed. A resolution said that lands that were given to peasants should be vacated from influential people and water supply to them should be ensured.

Earlier, peasants took out a rally that started from the Civil Hospital and marched through Station Road and Hyder Bux Jatoi roundabout before reaching the local press club.

Activists of Awami Party, Sindh Taraqqi Passand Party, South Asia Partnership, Labour Party Pakistan and NGOs participated in the rally.