LAHORE : A rural women`s convention on Friday presented a charter of demands to Punjab Environment Minister Zakia Shahnawaz, demanding approval of the climate change policy with proper resource allocation for smallholder women farmers and their participation in the budget decision making.

The convention was organised by Oxfam in Pakistan and Indus Consortium at a local hotel. The charter of demands was presented by the more than 80 smallholder women f armers from five districts of Punjab.

The moot was attended by a number of people from civil society organisations, government officials, environmentalists, academia, corporate entities and development organisations.

Minister Zakia Shahnawaz saidfarmers, especially women, were playing a great role in Pakistan`s economy. They were the backbone of the country. Under directions from the chief minister, the government was heavily investing in educating the rural youth. After education, they would be able to understand what their rights were, she said.

Presendng their charter of demands, the women farmers said the government should protect their crops against natural disasters. It should provide good quality seeds and loans to women f armers on easy installments besides allocating sufScient funds for agriculture.

Oxfam`s Programme Director Javeria Afzal encouraged the participants to support rural women farmers. `Women are a key to food production with 72.7 per cent of them engaged in agriculture.

Creating conditions that allow rural people to have more resilient livelihoods is a crucial component of anyplan to tackle poverty and hunger, she said.

She said her organisadon addresses the global sustainable development goals of zero hunger and climate action with the aim to end all forms of hunger and help mitigate climate-related disasters by 2030.

The moot provided a platform to Punjab`s women farmers to raise their voice, share their concerns and present their demands to make the government respond effectively and systemically to domestic climate change threats and to incorporate women focused schemes in the budget of the provincial government in the upcoming year.

Moderated by Fiza Qureshi, Programme Manager, Indus Consortium, the concluding session was chaired by Dr Ayesha Khan, Country Director, Hashoo Foundation. MPAs Saadia Sohail, Faiza Ahmed and Saira Iftikhar were also present.