Farmers threaten protest march to save agriculture

Pakistan's farming community is threatening a massive protest march in September unless the chief minister of Punjab resigns. According to Dawn, the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has given Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz an ultimatum: resign or face a million-strong march to Rawalpindi starting September twenty-fifth. Farmers say they're facing economic devastation: two point two trillion rupees in losses from the government's refusal to buy wheat, while the country simultaneously imported three point five million tonnes of grain. Input costs have spiraled—fertilizer prices have jumped from twenty-four hundred rupees to sixteen thousand six hundred rupees, urea from twelve hundred to forty-six hundred, and electricity tariffs for irrigation have surged from five to forty rupees per unit. Cotton yields have collapsed from sixty maunds to just twelve maunds per acre. Having exhausted their appeals to civilian leadership, the farming community is now preparing a final petition directly to the military.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton