SWABI: Leaders of farmers on Monday asked the government to ensure that financial assistance announced in the budget reached the poor farmers as such money often ended up in the hands of landlords.

They were speaking at a joint meeting organised by Ittehad-i-Kashtkaran Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (IKKP) and Kashtkar Coordination Council (KCC) here.

They deplored that elected representatives often failed to highlight the rights of famers.

Arif Ali Khan, IKKP central chairman, said: `The government doesn`t prioritise the interests of growers while formulating policies.

`This is the reason that the agriculture sector has lagged behind,` he said, adding that in the upcoming federal and provincial budgets the underprivileged farmers should be assisted in a way that the benefits reached them. He stressed the need for avoiding the past practices when all the financial assistance announced for the growers benefited the landlords.

Mr Khan said that agriculture sector was a selfemployed field where thousands of people earned their livelihood with dignity, but now farming had become very expensive and the survival of growers was at stake.

Iqbal Shewa, IKKP vice-chairman, said that Rs390 per kilogramme advance tax on tobacco crop had crippled the tobacco exports and caused great loss to the farmers because companies always transferred the entire burden of taxes to them.

Nasir Khan, central general secretary of KCC, said that they hoped that the government would announce a special package for the farmers in the budget. He called for urgently introducing modern technology in the agriculture sector to enhance production and ensure food security. `This will help improve financial position of farmers.

The growers` leaders also paid tribute to Liaqat Yousafzai, a voice of farmers, who passed away on May 12. They said that a huge gulf was created by his passing away. They said they would continue to take forward his mission of highlighting and protecting the rights of poor farmers.