ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) on Saturday demanded of the government to withdraw proposal of 17 percent general sales tax (GST) on imposed on imported seeds and plants, tools and chemicals of the agriculture sector in the mini budget as it will increase the cost of these inputs by up to 21 percent and will decrease yield of various crops.

The PKI president Khalid Mahmood Khokhar said seed is the basic item necessary for every crop and the country has seen increase in crop yields due to the imported hybrid seeds in crops such as rice where these seeds are giving a yield impact of about 20-40 percent more than the conventional seeds that were previously used.

The PKI president said levying 17 percent GST on imported seed will also impact tomato crop. If only five to 10 percent of farmers shift away from these hybrids and move to conventional seeds, the yield loss will cause the tomato price to jump, he said.

He further said in case of switching from imported corn seed, the livestock and poultry feed rates will jump, causing the meat, milk, poultry, and eggs market prices to increase.

At the same time, grain shortage for feed will put pressure on wheat and rice as alternate feed grains, causing shortages for human consumption, he said.

Khokhar said switching of farmers to conventional seeds will decrease yield of crop.

The decrease in yield may also result in export revenue loss and will require import of food commodities to cover the shortfall, he said.

He said Advisor to Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin had assured the farmer representatives that there will be no tax on agriculture inputs in this mini budget.

The government should take immediate action and revert the 17 percent GST back to zero to rectify this issue.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022