PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muttahida Kissan Mahaz has demanded of the government to resolve the issue of water scarcity on priority to make vast tracts of barren land cultivable and ensure food security in the country.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, PMKM central president Ayub Khan said that acute water shortages had caused negative impact on production of different crops which also affected financial position of the farmers.

He said that successive governments had not given proper attention to development of the agriculture sector.

He said that no concrete plan had been evolved to construct water reservoirs and overcome the increasing water crisis.

He said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about 70 per cent of the land was barren, but none of the successive governments had ever bothered to make it cultivable.

Flanked by PMKM provincial president Mohammad Ibrahim, Kashtkaran Ittehad provincial president Jan Nisar Khalil and other farmers, Ayub Khan stressed the need for provision of required irrigation water in parts of KP.

He said that production of crops had been decreasing every year due to the increasing shortage of water and anti-farmers policies of the government.

He said that the government should focus on construction of new water reservoirs.

He also talked about high prices of fertilisers and asked the government to frame pro-agriculture policies to improve productivity and ensure food security in the country.

He said that the country`s economy would grow if the government focused on agriculture sector and resolved issues being faced by farmers.

Mr Khalil criticised the KP government for using delaying tactics in revival of the cooperative bank and cooperative societies in the province.

He said that the government should take the farmers on board in the decision making process to improve agriculture sector through joint efforts.