Farmers' woes

THE farming community has threatened to go on strike if the government does not pay attention to their problems. This threat was made by the Kissan Board at a number of rallies throughout the Punjab which were held to protest the farming community's problems. These include such issues as the availability of irrigation water, but the focus was on the prices of oil products, and of both urea and DAP fertilizers, which are still hoarded, as well as their prices. The Board was merely voicing the opinion of the farming community as a whole when it blamed these factors for the failure of crops to reach targeted sowing, and thus failure to reach targeted yields. It is best to leave aside the President's vain boast of an agriculture-led export revolution. Though once supposed to be the granary of all India before the Partition, modern Pakistan has only come through the latest crises because it could feed itself.