Jhang, Pakistan – October 6, 2024: Hundreds of small-scale farmers, peasants, workers, women, and youth from across Pakistan gathered in Jhang, a city in northern Punjab Province, to attend the Jhang Kissan Conference.
Organized by the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC), the conference served as a platform for small-scale farmers, peasants and agricultural workers to demand a fair Minimum Support Price (MSP) and to protest the country’s growing shift towards corporate farming. industrial farming
The gathering brought together various social movements from Punjab and Sindh. Participants at the conference condemned the government’s policies, which they say disproportionately harm small-scale farmers, peasants, and agricultural workers, while benefiting corporations and military interests. A unanimous resolution called for an end to corporate farming and urged the implementation of wide-ranging agrarian reforms, including the redistribution of large public and private land holdings to peasant farmers.
PKRC General Secretary Farooq Tariq spoke forcefully against the government’s neoliberal economic policies, accusing them of being driven by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. “These policies are destroying farmers’ livelihoods,” Tariq said. He further warned that control of Pakistan’s agricultural and food systems is increasingly being handed over to military and multinational agribusinesses, jeopardizing the future of small farmers. “The government and military are in motion to grab millions of hectares of land under the guise of corporate farming,” Tariq explained.
Dr. Dildar Laghri, a representative from the Sindh Hari Tahreek (Sindh Peasants Movement), raised the alarm over the “Green Pakistan Initiative,” a project aimed at seizing 2.8 million acres for corporate farming. Laghri equated the size of the land being taken to an area larger than Jamaica, noting that it accounts for approximately 9.5% of Punjab’s total land area.
Speakers emphasized that corporate farming threatens to displace small farmers and devastate rural communities. Noor Khan Baloch, a PKRC member from Jhang, warned that corporate control over land would push small farmers out of business and limit employment opportunities for agricultural workers. “Corporate farming will lead to the displacement of small farmers and the concentration of land ownership in the hands of corporate entities,” Baloch said.
Women leaders at the event, including PKRC’s Riffat Maqsood, also spoke out against the government’s dismissive treatment of farmers. Maqsood demanded a public apology for derogatory remarks that labeled farmers as “mafia.” “We are the backbone of this nation,” Maqsood stated, calling on the government to respect farmers’ demands for agrarian reforms and social justice.
A Call for Agrarian Reforms and Justice
The PKRC closed the conference with a strong declaration, outlining a comprehensive program for agrarian reforms. The groups made 23 demands, including the end of corporate farming, the fair redistribution of government and private land, ensuring the MSP for key crops, and restructuring irrigation systems to support small farmers in drought-prone regions.
crop monitoring The PKRC also announced a series of national campaigns focused on fighting for peasant rights, land reforms, seed sovereignty, and climate justice.