PTI Kisan Wing Warns of Nationwide Highway Protests in January Over ‘Anti-Agriculture’ Policies

Islamabad ( ) A country wide highways blocking protest move shall be started in mid-January 2026 if the government fails to place in farmers friendly policy, said PTI Kisan Wing Organizer MNA Sheikh Waqas Akram and Kisan Wing Central Secretary Information Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich while talking to media representatives here on Wednesday after a consultative meeting with representatives of farmer organizations.They said that anti-agriculture policies ruined the agriculture sector and farmers have suffered a loss of Rs 2200 billion owing to post flood government policies comprising of huge difference between public announcement and notifications issued by the government.

Agricultural production is continuously decreasing in a result of a number of problems and farmer organizations from Khyber to Karachi have no option left except a nationwide protest movement to ring the bell. Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich told reporters that deep concerns were expressed in the meeting over the in practice anti-agricultural policy owing to which agricultural production has decreased by 13.49 percent. “Wheat production has decreased by 8.9 percent, maize by 15.4 percent and cotton by an alarming 30.7 percent”, he disclosed. He said that due to poor and inconsistent policies, about 2.5 million farmers across the country have been forced to leave agriculture, which is a serious threat to food security. He mentioned that the government is spending only 0.18 percent of the budget on agricultural research, while countries like Brazil are investing up to 1.75 percent on their agriculture, due to this negligence, Pakistan’s agriculture is continuously declining.

Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich added that floods and anti-agricultural policies have claimed the losses of Rs 1100 billion in Punjab alone. “The rice crop was destroyed by 60 percent, sugarcane by 30 percent, while wheat cultivation decreased by 11 percent, as a result of which the country is being forced to depend on imports”, he mentioned. He further said that the growth rate of the agricultural sector has come down to 0.56 percent, while the target was 2 percent. “The government fixed the price of wheat at Rs 2,700 per maund, while the actual cost of production is more than Rs 3,410 per maund. He further added that seven secretaries of agriculture were changed but no clear agricultural policy could be brought in force. “If this situation continues, 11.3 million farmer families will be completely destroyed”, he mentioned. He also expressed deep concern over what he said farmers and exporters are being treated extremely badly at the Sindh and Punjab borders. He said that stopping export containers coming from Punjab for 12 hours, breaking the seals in the name of searching and posing the goods to destroy is tantamount to economic murder of farmers.