Thousands of small farmers, landless peasants and agricultural workers, supported by trade unions, social movements and young people came from across Pakistan on October 6 to participate in the Jhang Kissan Conference in northern Punjab, and to demand a minimum support price for farmers’ produce and an end to corporate farming and land grabs.
The conference was organised by the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (Pakistan Farmer’s Contact Committee, PKRC) in conjunction with the Haqooq Khalq Party (People’s Rights Party, HKP). Farmers’ movements from Punjab and Sindh joined the event.
Farmers strongly condemned the government's policies and a unanimous resolution demanded an end to corporate farming and called for comprehensive and popular agrarian reforms, including the distribution of large public and private estates among peasants and small farmers.
PKRC General Secretary Farooq Tariq said: “The government's anti-farmer and anti-poor policies, driven by the neoliberal economic order under the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, are destroying farmers' livelihoods.
“As if that was not enough, now the anti farmers government is giving control of the agriculture and food systems sector to military and transnational agribusiness companies. The military’s and government’s plan is in motion to grab millions of hectares of land from farmers in the name of corporate farming.”
Dr Dildar Laghri from Sindh Hari Tahreek (Sindh Peasants Movement) told the conference: "The government, under the guise of the Green Pakistan Initiative, is planning to seize a staggering 4.8 million acres of land across our country for corporate farming. To put that into perspective, this landmass is larger than the entire island of Jamaica! And in Punjab alone, it accounts for a whopping 9.5% of the total land area."
HKP Punjab President and Pakistan Labour Quami Movement (National Labour Movement) chair Lateef Ansari said: "We cannot let this happen. Our ancestral lands, our source of livelihood and our identity are at stake. We must unite and raise our voices against this blatant attempt to rob us of our rights.
“Corporate farming will only lead to exploitation, displacement and devastation of our communities. We are the backbone of this nation who are feeding the people and it's time our voices are heard. Let’s stand together and fight for our rights, our land and our future!"
Jhang PKRC member, Noor Khan Baloch said: “Corporate farming will lead to the displacement of small farmers, as they struggle to compete with agribusiness corporations. The concentration of land ownership among corporate entities will reduce employment opportunities for agricultural workers and rural communities.”
PKRC women’s leader Riffat Maqsood condemned Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif for recently labeling farmers as a “mafia” for demanding their rights.
“We, the farmers and workers of Pakistan, demand a public apology for this outrageous slur. Your words have exposed the contempt with which you view our struggles and our livelihoods.
“We will not be silenced or intimidated by your attempts to delegitimise our demands for agrarian reforms and social justice. Instead, we will rise up and unite against exploitation, advocating for our rights and the rights of our children.
PKRC launched a comprehensive program for agrarian reforms at the conference, comprised of 23 demands. It also announced a series of campaigns as part of a national movement for small farmers and peasant’s rights around land reforms, land grabbing, seed sovereignty and climate justice.
The conference adopted the following demands on the government:
1. End corporate farming and distribute government and private estate lands among peasants, small farmers and landless rural people
2. Ensure minimum support price for wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rice, maize and all other crops and to purchase wheat from farmers
3. Abolish the policy authorising the private sector to import and dump grain in competition with local farmers that lowers the prices of local peasants’ produce
4. Regulate the market to ensure fair prices for farmers and peasants’ produce
5. End the IMF- and World Trade Organisation-led neoliberal and anti-peasant open market policies
6. Restructure the irrigation system and provide water to small farmers and peasants in dry areas
7. Fix electricity rates at Rs 10 per unit for small farmers and peasants.