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Corporate farming policy
opposed
ISLAMABAD, June 22: The Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (SAAG),
an umbrella organization of 15 civil society bodies working
for the rights of farmers , has expressed concerns over the
introduction of corporate agriculture farming (CAF) in the
country.
A statement issued by SAAG said: "It is not only a shock to
small farmers but also for the civil society organizations.
"According to CAF, there will be no upper land ceiling and no
labour laws for the people working on big farms. "No duty will
be charged on the agricultural equipment imported by the
agricultural firms.
"It will give opportunity to transnational corporations (TNCs)
and feudal lords to jump into and extract as much profit as
they can while denying right to food or food security to the
poor peasants.
The statement said, SAAG had always voiced the rights of
vulnerable small farmers, who were being pushed to the wall by
the government. In the past, there had been two attempts of
land reforms by the government in order to curtail the power
of feudal lords and land holders, it added. It said: "But this
government has reverted previous land reforms efforts by
allowing any individual of firm to own as much land as one
can.
According to SAAG, about 93 per cent of the agricultural
community comprise of small farmers, who are already in a
miserable state because of the policies of the government
which are promoting corporate farming in the perspective of
multilateral trading system in the arena of WTO.
Courtesy Dawn
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Pakissan.com;
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