{"id":79666,"date":"2024-05-05T20:43:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T20:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wheat-crisis-farmers-to-launch-nationwide-protests-from-may-10\/"},"modified":"2024-05-05T20:43:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T20:43:10","slug":"wheat-crisis-farmers-to-launch-nationwide-protests-from-may-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wheat-crisis-farmers-to-launch-nationwide-protests-from-may-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheat crisis: Farmers to launch nationwide protests from May 10"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>Kissan Ittehad Pakistan on Sunday announced that thousands of farmers will participate in nationwide demonstrations against the ongoing wheat crisis from May 10, starting from Multan.<\/p>\n<p>Wheat rates have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1825573\/wheat-imports-bring-down-flour-prices\">plummeted<\/a> in the market, and are much below the support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg, with the decision to import wheat despite a local \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1828142\">bumper crop<\/a>\u201d being blamed.<\/p>\n<p>The crisis saw the farmers resort to protest in Lahore and several other cities last month, followed by the government launching a crackdown against the protests.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1830526\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p><figcaption class=\"media__caption  \">.Scores held in Punjab for protesting govt\u2019s \u2018unfair\u2019 wheat policy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Despite pledging to protect farmers, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s government appears <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1831578\">reluctant<\/a> to thoroughly investigate the wheat import and take action against those at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>However, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1831128\/probe-ordered-into-wheat-import-by-caretakers\">cabinet committee<\/a> has been constituted to ascertain why the last caretaker government, led by then-PM Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, imported the commodity despite an ample supply in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Reiterating its resolve, the farmers\u2019 alliance today said that the protests against the crisis will be relaunched countrywide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have approached many farmers\u2019 groups and we have decided that we will protest. Not for ourselves, but to save the country,\u201d said the body\u2019s president Khalid Khokhar .<\/p>\n<p>Addressing a press conference, Khokhar blamed the caretaker government for causing a loss of over Rs400 billion to the national exchequer by importing $1bn (approximately Rs277bn) worth of wheat amidst a forex shortage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cannot even describe how these farmers are suffering right now,\u201d Khokhar said. \u201cI submitted applications to the prime minister, the chief of army staff and the director general of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and showed how much damage this wheat import has caused.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khokhar said that the \u201cmafia\u201d made Rs100bn off the wheat import, while farmers lost approximately Rs400bn because they had to sell their wheat at lower rates. \u201cThe government lost another Rs150bn due to interest on the surplus wheat they did not sell,\u201d Khokhar added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhichever way you look at it, either Pakistan lost out, or it\u2019s people did,\u201d Khokhar lamented.<\/p>\n<p>He warned that when farmers are suffering financially, it affects other crops such as rice and cotton. \u201cIf farmers have no money, how will they invest in other crops?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe bought everything on the black market,\u201d Khokhar continued, saying that farmers spent Rs150bn on urea for wheat cultivation \u2014 which he claimed was greater than the market price. \u201cUrea is still in the black, even though demand is low\u201d, Khokhar said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere was the state when they said they would protect farmers?\u201d Khokhar asked. \u201cThose who sit in power do not make the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quoting urea as an example, he said there are five different rates for the commodity due to a lack of government regulation.<\/p>\n<p>Khokhar said that the Kissan Ittehad would lead nationwide protests against the government\u2019s wheat policy. \u201cWe will start in Multan on May 10 and carry on across the country from there,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will be thousands of farmers, along with their livestock and families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to protest because it causes inconveniences to the people,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the state does not think farmers are important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur only goal is to extend relief. Without agriculture, we are nothing,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kissan Ittehad Pakistan on Sunday announced that thousands of farmers will participate in nationwide demonstrations against the ongoing wheat crisis from May 10, starting from Multan. Wheat rates have plummeted in the market, and are much below the support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg, with the decision to import wheat despite a local \u201cbumper crop\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/05\/05184944b1a219a.png?r=184954","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}