Flood-affected farmers warn of protest in Islamabad

Several farmers and landowners have warned of protests in Pakistan as agricultural land and standing crops in Balochistan and Sindh have been destroyed due to devastating floods in the country which have added to the economic miseries of the people.

According to Dawn, Kissan Ittehad Pakistan Chairman, Khalid Hussain has warned of a massive protest sit-in by growers and landowners in front of the Chief Minister's house and D-Chowk in Islamabad if the government failed to implement the relief package within 10 days.

"If the demands are not met, a sit-in would be staged in front of the CM House here on Nov 4 and at D-Chowk on the 5th as 70 per cent of agricultural land and standing crops in Balochistan and Sindh had been destroyed due to the heavy floods over the last couple of months," Hussain said.

"The federal and provincial governments should immediately implement the package for the flood- and rain-affected landowners," he added.

The Kissan Ittehad Pakistan earlier protested in Islamabad for eight days for their demands, Dawn reported.

Disastrous floods washed away the fruit orchards and standing crops in the flood-hit regions of Pakistan as a result of which farmers are on the brink of starvation and are suffering heavily economy-wise.

Numerous farmers and land-owners as well are not able to pay heavy electricity bills. Moreover, they have demanded the government immediately provide wheat, oilseeds, and fertilisers at subsidised rates to them to deal with the shortage of wheat in the country in the coming days, according to Dawn.

As floodwaters in Pakistan recede, the story of those in the worst affected regions comes to the surface with many farmers sharing their woes of being stuck in a vicious cycle of sinking into debt and not being able to pay back the landlords.

Sindh is among those provinces that have sustained the most flood damage.

As Pakistan's flood fury wreaks havoc in different provinces, farmers are finding themselves in another trouble as they are already buried under the debt they owe to landlords. Many already owe hundreds or thousands of dollars to the landlords whose fields they cultivate each year, as part of a system that has long governed much of rural Pakistan.

The landlords each planting season offer farmers loans so that they can buy fertilizers and seeds. With the purchased items they cultivate their fields which earns them a meagre amount.

The farmers are making desperate attempts to sail through the troubled waters. And now, their summer harvests are in ruins. Unless the water recedes, they will not be able to plant the wheat they harvest each spring.