Budget will destroy our agricultural industry.

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Budget will destroy our agricultural industry.
nawaz
07/02/01 at 10:45:32
Budget will destroy our agricultural industry.
 
Our agriculture contributes to slightly over 25% of GDP, employs 44% of the working population and brings in 70% of foreign exchange. Currently, it is facing a negative growth of 2.5% and requires a budget that can rescue it from its predicament, strengthen the agricultural base and make Pakistan self-reliant in this area. On the contrary, this sector will be the worst affected under the budget. On the 1st of April 2001 the government under directives from the IMF announced that it would immediately levy 15% GST on pesticide and urea fertilizers. The farming community reeling from the shortage of water and drought like conditions were forced to bear a tax increase on essential items used in the production of crops. This trend is set to continue in the new fiscal year - all remaining agricultural inputs most likely to be seeds and other materials will be subject to GST by September 2001. Added to this is the cost of operating agricultural machinery, which has seen a dramatic increase due to the frequent rises in prices of petrol and diesel and shows no sign of abating in the new fiscal year. Furthermore, the government plans to abolish support price system for wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane, withdraw gas subsidies to fertiliser plants and subsidies on wheat worth Rs 15 billion. The affect of these IMF policies will lead to an increase in the cost of production of all crops, higher prices for consumers, loss of competitiveness-hence reduction in exports, closure of farms and agricultural companies and opening up of the agricultural sector to foreign multinationals. Consequently, Pakistan’s agricultural capability will be severely weakened and it will have to use its foreign exchange to import food to satisfy the hunger of its population. The government knows this full well and is working in collusion with the IMF and the WTO to achieve this. On the 17th of May, Agricultural Minister, Mohammed Junjeo told the IMF delegation that the official support price mechanism and procurement system were temporary arrangements and would be abolished completely during the next fiscal year to introduce free market trade regime in the country. Another aspect of liberalising the agricultural sector is the introductions of cooperate farming, which intends to replace the local agricultural companies with western multinationals working under relaxed labour laws – contributing to large-scale unemployment. On the 4th of June the government announced that it has finally decided to give land not less than 200 acres to foreigners or multinationals for cooperate agriculture farming… Labour laws will not be applicable. This will allow kafir colonialist powers and their companies to fully control the production and distribution of foodstuffs in Pakistan. Islam absolutely forbids the leasing of land for farming, whether the lessees are multinationals or Muslims. It was narrated by An-Nisai,

‘The messenger of Allah forbade leasing the land. We said, ‘O prophet of Allah, can we then lease it for some grain.” He (saw) said, ‘No.’ Furthermore, it has been proven through Ijma Sahaba that anyone who leaves his land uncultivated for three years, the Islamic state will take it away from the person and give to someone else. If a person does not have the means to cultivate the land then the state has to provide funds from Bayt al-Mal to facilitate cultivation. Therefore the Islamic state will not allow individuals such as feudal landlords to exercise monopoly over barren land. In this way the Islamic state will implement an agricultural policy, which fully utilises of the potential of the land to its optimum level of production.
NS


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