HYDERABAD: Representatives of the Sindh Abadgar Ittehad (SAI) have demanded of the federal government to announce a special package for the agriculture sector, subsidy on farm inputs and withdrawal of general sales tax (GST) on agriculture sector in the forthcoming budget.

Speaking at a press conference here onTuesday at the local press club, SAI president Nawaz Zubair Talpur and Mohammad Javed Rear said that in his address to the nation, Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised that he would announce subsidy on fertilizer but he did not fulfil it.

They said the Punjab government had announced subsidy for its farmers, but the Sindh government did not of fer such facility.

Last year urea fertilizer bag had been sold at Rs1360 and now it was being sold for Rs1800, he added.

They said the cost of a tractor had increased from Rs1.7 million to Rs2.1 million and added that situation would aggravate after announcement of budget.

They said Pakistan used to be the fourthlargest exporter of cotton in 2004, but now it was the fifth largest importer of cotton due to failed policy of the federal government after 2010 onwards.

They threatened to stage a historic sit-in in Islamabad in collaboration with other Pakistan-level farmers` bodies if their demands were not met.

They said they were coordinating with the Punjab-based Pakistan Kissan Ittehad and other organisations.

They said that wrong and anti-agriculture policies of the Sindh government had made lives of people associated with agriculture miserable.

They said that by not procuring wheat crop the Sindh government had causedbillions of rupees losses to farmers. They said that similar situation was seen in the sugar cane sector and their organisation had moved the Sindh High Court for payment of quality premium over and above the actual cost of sugar cane by factory owners.

They said factory owners were not paying quality premium since 1999 and liabilities of quality premium now run into billions, adding that the government was apparently not interested in implementing the Supreme Court judgement concerning payment of quality premium.

They said they would organise farmers and haris in Sindh for payment of liabilities to sugar cane growers by factory owners.