International Peasants Rights Day: HWA advocates land reforms to address food insecurity

HYDERABAD: Sindh has long been plagued by a high frequency of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and other natural disasters, said the statement issued by Hari Welfare Association (HWA) on International Peasants Rights Day. It said that in 2022 the situation concerning food security significantly deteriorated as a result of high costs for food and fuel, a drought, torrential monsoon rains, animal diseases, and fewer job prospects.

HWA President Akram Ali Khaskheli said in a statement that International Peasants Rights Day is a day to recognize and raise awareness about the rights and challenges faced by small-scale farmers, agricultural workers, and rural communities around the world.

Like other peasants in the world, peasants in Sindh are facing severe issues including food insecurity due to many problems but primarily the absence of land reforms in Sindh and the hegemony of a few feudal lord families on lands and the entire governance structure.

Due to its absence, there are just a few people who own land, agriculture is less productive and wider rural and peasant groups receive minimal economic benefits. When properly carried out, land reforms can help with the problem of food insecurity in many ways.

According to the President, land reforms that seek to give land to landless peasants or redistribute land to encourage equitable land distribution can expand access to land for small farmers, landless peasants (sharecroppers), and marginalized groups. Since it gives peasants the resources to cultivate crops and rear livestock for food production, access to land is a crucial component of food production.

The lack of land reforms in Sindh, according to Akram, has also been exacerbated by the lack of effective law enforcement, the lack of infrastructure and resources, the anti-peasant but pro-landlord policy climate, and the lack of assistance for sharecroppers, small-scale landlords, and peasants.

The statement also said that the Sindh Tenancy Act of 1955 is a significant piece of legislation that has never been implemented. The Act regulates the relations between landlords and tenants and provides for the fixation and revision of fair rents, security of tenures, and rights of tenants to purchase land.

The Act also includes provisions for the distribution of state-owned land to landless tenants and peasants. He added that the Sindh Land Revenue Act of 1967 governs land administration and revenue collection in the province but that has always been manipulated by the powerful class to benefit feudal lords in Sindh.

The Act includes provisions related to land record management, land ownership, and transfer of land, and aims to streamline the land administration system to ensure transparency and fairness in land transactions.

The statement further added that in every budget Sindh allocates millions of rupees to support feudal lords but a peasant and sharecroppers remain without any subsidies and services announced by the government each year.

The president demanded that Sindh should introduce land reforms to end the miseries of rural workers, sharecroppers (peasants), and other landless peasants which ensure food security for millions of peasants and rural workers in Sindh.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023