Farmer organisations have rejected the increase in the diesel and other petroleum products prices, warning of a severe blow to the agricultural economy since its impact could reach Rs 20 billion.
"Around two billion liters of diesel are being consumed in the agricultural sector per annum and the recent increase means an additional burden of about Rs 20 billion on farmers," representatives of various farmers organisations said while talking to Business Recorder on Monday.
Agri-Forum Pakistan Chairman Muhammad Ibrahim Mughal and Vice Chairman Chaudhry Waqas Ilyas reacting to the price increases said when the government took over price of diesel was at Rs 38 per liter and now with the fresh increase it had gone to around Rs 65 per liter. "It means that in this tenure the price of diesel has increased to Rs 27 putting an additional burden of Rs 54 billion on the agricultural economy, which consumes two billion liters diesel per annum. It will simply kill the agriculture," Mughal remarked.
He said now farmers would be forced to use fewer tractors, run tube-wells less than the requirement while canals were already short of water so causing a big blow to the agriculture. He termed this step as an indirect step to spoil the agriculture economy, which was primary industry for country's secondary industry.
Farmers Associates of Pakistan (FAP) Chief Co-ordinator Muhammad Idrees Khokhar reacting to fresh hike in diesel prices said that the government had started raising prices of petroleum products when these had started coming down in the international market. He said the increase in the diesel prices during last five months would make the agriculture unviable for the small growers, which constitutes 95 percent of our agricultural economy.
Khokhar said the government announced a Rs 25 billion subsidy on DAP fertilisers for the farmers in the budget 2008-09 but taken away Rs 20 billion in one go by increasing the prices of diesel.
The FAP leader demanded that the government give farmers international prices of its crops when they were getting inputs in line with international prices. "It will help our farmers to stand on his own feet," he added.
Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) President, Sardar Zafar Hussein Khan said the area under cultivation had reduced by 10 percent during the current year due to non-availability of canal water. An increase of 62 percent in the prices of oil in the same period and long spell of power-cuts had created a fear that the agri production might fall by 30 percent, he added.