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Sindh Farmers Reject 45% Agri Tax, Call for Wheat Boycott
Sindh farmers call 45% agri income tax unconstitutional, vow wheat boycott in 2025–26. SCA warns of mass arrests, urges shift to alternative crops. Cotton production dips 40%.
ND
by News Desk
2025-07-23
Sindh Farmers Reject 45% Agri Tax, Call for Wheat Boycott

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) has rejected the newly introduced 45% agricultural income tax, declaring it unconstitutional, illegal, and unethical. The chamber has announced it will challenge the tax in court and called upon all farmers across Sindh to boycott wheat cultivation for the 2025–26 season.

The decision was reached during a high-level meeting held in Hyderabad on Tuesday, chaired by Dr. Syed Nadeem Qamar, the patron-in-chief of the SCA. The meeting was attended by several senior farmer leaders and stakeholders from across the province.

Participants strongly opposed the tax, attributing its imposition to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and claimed it came at a time when farmers were already struggling to get fair market prices for their produce. “There is no justification for this tax when farmers cannot even recover their cost of production,” the participants argued.

They announced a complete boycott of the agricultural income tax and warned the government of mass civil disobedience. “We are ready to go to jail, but we will not pay this unjust tax,” they said, adding that any government crackdown would lead to a mass arrest movement involving millions of farmers.

The chamber urged the government to provide the same tax exemptions to farmers that industrialists currently enjoy and to address long-standing issues such as inadequate support prices.

🔻 Boycott of Wheat Cultivation

Farmers unanimously agreed to boycott wheat cultivation in the upcoming season and instead focus on alternative crops like mustard, nigella (kalonji), sunflower, and other oilseeds. They noted that low wheat prices have made cultivation unsustainable, prompting them to mark 2025–26 as the "Boycott Year" for wheat.

🔻 Decline in Cotton Production

The SCA expressed grave concern over a 40% decline in cotton production, projecting that total output may not exceed four million bales this year. Farmers are receiving only Rs6,500 per maund, despite earlier government promises of Rs11,000, they said.

The chamber demanded the withdrawal of the 18% local tax on cotton and called for a 25% tax on imported cotton to support domestic producers. Rising production costs were also highlighted, including a Rs22 per litre hike in diesel prices and a Rs600 increase per bag of DAP fertiliser within just 15 days.

“These skyrocketing input costs are crippling farmers. Without fair prices and affordable resources, the country’s entire agricultural economy is at risk,” warned SCA members.

🔻 Additional Demands

The chamber encouraged farmers to register for the Benazir Hari Card and requested that subsidies of Rs10,000 per acre — currently available only for sunflower and canola — be extended to mustard and rapeseed crops as well.

The meeting was attended by several key figures in the agricultural sector, including Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority Chairman Kabool Khatian, general secretary Zahid Bhurgari, and other prominent members of the farming community.

The SCA has made it clear: unless immediate steps are taken by the government to reverse the tax and support agricultural livelihoods, Sindh’s farmers are prepared for prolonged resistance.

 
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