Farmers are up in arms again; this time against increasing duty-free imports of agricultural commodities from India. Pakistan had opened the Wagha border for the import of 137 items way back in March 2012.
This has now become a problem for domestic farmers.
Last year, vegetables and other small items worth Rs26bn were imported. This year, the first six months’ bill is Rs16bn.
Pakistani farmers think, with a measure of justification, that Indian farmers are being facilitated at their cost, and have got together to resist the process.
This has been excerpted from the 12 January 2015 issue of Pakissan.cpm and is available in its entirety at:
http://www.pakissan.com/english/news/newsDetail.php?newsid=27901