Call for farmer-friendly land reforms

From the Newspaper | Shazia Hasan | 29th April, 2012

KARACHI, April 28: In Pakistans agriculture-based economy farmers should be given the right to choose their own destiny.
This was the main conclusion reached by several farmers, experts, non-governmental organisation representatives and other stakeholders at a conference held to discuss the problems faced by farmers and small agriculture land owners in the country organised by the Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tahrik and Roots for Equity at a local hotel here on Saturday. Speaking in the plenary session, Dr Azra Talat Saeed, founder of Roots for Equity, presented a historical perspective of the increasing problems faced by the farmers over the years. Feudalism is a big problem for farmers. Before this there were the Mughals and history tells us that feudalism was not part of the Mughal era. Back then the kings used to gift lands to farmers. Tax would be paid in the form of lagaan paid by the entire area. The farmers, too, owned the land they worked on, she explained. Then the British arrived. They were more into controlling the masses and gifted thousands of acres of land to various families about whom no one had even heard of until that time. A new and rather unfair taxation system was introduced that broke the farmers back. Also lands not producing enough yield could be transferred to military personnel, she continued, taking the participants in the conference up to the first land reforms introduced by General Ayub Khan in 1959. The land reforms made it possible for the farmers to buy the land that they worked on. Then in the 1972 land reforms, introduced in Zulfikar Ali Bhuttos time, land was distributed among the farmers for free. But then, Bhutto himself hailed from a feudal family. The year 1977 saw Ziaul Haqs martial law declaring the 1972 reforms a flop. The 1980s saw the start of globalisation. The Corporate Farming Ordinance of 2001 then saw land being leased out to foreigners, she explained. This brings us to the current situation in 2012 when there hasnt even been any proper agriculture census after 1990, pointed out the professor. The reason for not collecting data was deliberate, she observed. It was to keep the people illinformed, she added. The plenary session followed a discussion among the stakeholders and other participants present on the occasion. Several issues were highlighted why there was a need for proper land or agriculture reforms, how to remedy land grabbing, why there should be a representation of farmers and

stakeholders in the policy and decision-making process and making the farmer self-sufficient as the main themes among them. It was said that members of the feudal class who had also been in power in the government had interconnected interests so the land wont really be distributed to the farmers. Land is given to women and quickly bought back from them for mere four to five lakh of rupees, it was said. Similarly, the farmers given land dont have the strength to hold on to it as they may mortgage it to buy seeds or fertiliser. The feudal lord in their area, too, might supply them with water, electricity or roads in exchange for their land. It was also suggested that loans extended to farmers was interestfree and the duration of paying back the loans should be left for the farmers to decide themselves. Destruction of forests, too, was also regretted along with the taking over of lands by the army. The farmers wanted proper water distribution, they said. They didnt want the government to build any more dams without taking them into confidence. Also they wanted the government to take care of their basic health and education needs. Finally, it was stressed by a panel of experts, comprising Raja Mujib, Naveen Haider and Dr Azra, that the farmers needed to organise themselves to start their own resistance movement. They should also collaborate with the media, NGOs and political parties to form a pressure group for introducing correct land reforms, while being given their basic rights such as health and education. Only such measures would result in the empowerment of farmer in order to improve the economy of Pakistan, they said.