Rawalpindi,(Parliament Times): Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich, Central Spokesman of PTI Kisan Wing has said that the ready to harvest wheat crop faces imminent ruin unless the government immediately addresses the critical hurdles hampering the harvest. He said that solvable problems being faced by the farming community are silently stalling the nation’s breadbasket coupled with possible loss of farmers.
Highlighting a surge of complaints from farmers across Punjab and other provinces in a statement issued here on Tuesday, he pointed out that thresher manufacturing units are currently paralyzed by prolonged, unannounced power outages and the restrictive 8:00 PM business closure. This has left manufacturers unable to fulfill urgent orders for essential harvesting machinery, creating a massive shortage of threshers at the height of the harvesting season.
He emphasized that this delay is causing grains to drop from the ears of the wheat, while the looming threat of rain is fueling deep anxiety and despair among the farming community. Sadhraich demanded that provincial governments take immediate notice, ensuring an uninterrupted power supply to thresher factories and exempting them from early closure mandates so they can work around the clock to meet demand. Furthermore, he called on the government to set the wheat support price at 5,500 rupees to reflect the current inflation rate, while ensuring timely procurement at designated centers. He also urged a targeted reduction in petrol prices for the transportation of crops from fields to markets to prevent further financial losses for farmers. “For farmers racing to beat the unpredictable weather, this double-lock on productivity is turning the hope of a bumper crop into a logistical nightmare”, he concluded.