Pakistan Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Khokhar has demanded a wheat support price of Rs. 5,000 per 40 kilograms, warning that farmers may skip wheat sowing next season if the government delays announcing a crop policy.
Speaking at a press conference, Khokhar said wheat sowing was approaching but the government had yet to announce its policy for the crop.
He said farmers were struggling to afford balanced fertilizer use because they were not recovering their production costs. According to Khokhar, DAP consumption has fallen from 2.39 million tonnes to 1.25 million tonnes.
“Give farmers the international market price for wheat and they will deliver record production,” he said, arguing that higher crop prices in previous years had contributed to improved yields.
Khokhar also said sugarcane cultivation had increased 16 percent to 2.454 million acres, while sugar production was expected to rise by 25 percent to 30 percent.
He urged the government to maintain sufficient sugar stocks for domestic consumption until November and export the surplus to prevent losses for growers. He warned that failure to export excess sugar could push down sugarcane prices and hurt farmers, with consequences for subsequent crops.
The farmers’ leader said growers were not seeking subsidies but fair prices for their produce, as rising input costs and inadequate returns were discouraging younger people from pursuing agriculture.
“If the government wants deregulation, it should deregulate the entire sector rather than selectively deregulating sugarcane,” he said, adding that food security should remain a government priority.
Another farmers’ leader, Mahmoodul Hassan Bukhari, criticized the government for delaying decisions despite having crop and stock data. He said previous delays in exporting surplus sugar had ultimately shifted the losses onto farmers and warned that farmers could skip wheat sowing if a policy was not announced promptly.
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