Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) said it would protect farmers from the clutches of exploiters including International Monetary Fund, World Bank, banks, fertiliser manufacturers, sugar mills, rice mills, cotton mills and hoarders of agriculture inputs.
Addressing Independence Day flag hoisting ceremony here on Sunday, President KBP Sardar Zafar Hussain said "without breaking clutches of these powerful groups and the Qabza mafia, the farming community could not achieve meaningful independence.
He alleged that the IMF, World Bank, fertiliser manufacturers, banks, sugar, flour, rice and cotton mills' owners have crippled the farmers and the agriculture sector economically. The traders and middle men of agriculture commodities manipulate prices and purchase these commodities at very cheap rates from the farmers at the harvesting time since poor growers neither have the capacity nor do they have the storage facilities to retain their produce for some time.
He said providers of agriculture inputs like fertilisers, pesticides, seeds, etc, sell their products at exorbitant rates to the farmers and earn billions of rupees through black-marketing, hoarding and profiteering. "These cartels have monopolised the agricultural economy, therefore farmers will have to wage a successful struggle against these elements", he added.