Farmers have decided to protest against the withdrawal of tax exemptions in the mini budget as well as imposition of additional levies which have increased their cost of production by a manifold. According to the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad, they have decided to observe a protest on February 14.
In a statement, the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad stated that withdrawal of sales tax and additional duty exemption on seeds, high rates of electricity billing for tubewell and manifold increase in diesel and fertiliser prices had hiked the cost of production for farmers.
“The farming community of Pakistan feels that the leadership’s decision to implement demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the shape of withdrawal of tax exemptions from basic agricultural inputs will make farming uneconomical,” it said.
The farmer group expressed concern that the withdrawal of general sales tax exemptions on seeds will hike the price of traditional seeds like wheat, cotton and local rice and value-added imported and hybrid seeds of maize, rice, sunflower, vegetables and fodders.
According to it, this unwarranted step of the government will lift the food import bill further. They added that Pakistan’s food imports jumped 53% in 2020-21 to reach $8.35 billion.
