Potato growers on Wednesday announced to end their sit-in after assurance by Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Noman Ahmad Langrial that every possible step would be taken to save them from exploitation. Langrial said the provincial government had written a letter to the federal government for fixing the support price of potato at some reasonable level to save the growers from financial loss.
He said it is prerogative of the federal government to fix support price of any crop but the provincial government is doing its best to ensure better price for different crops. The Minister held negotiations with the growers at Chairing Cross where they were protesting under the banner of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad since last evening. Malik Noman said the government also held parleys with the sugar mills owners in the larger interest of sugarcane growers and another meeting is scheduled for January 23 to ensure payment of all outstanding dues of the cane growers.
He assured that the government would recover outstanding dues by auctioning the mills if needed but would not allow anyone to exploit the growers. The Minister said the government would introduce a number of schemes aimed at welfare of the farmers and bringing down the input cost of different crops. He said Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had constituted a committee to ensure payments to the cane growers.