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Agri Reformers urge govt to withdraw land holding ceiling

KARACHI: A well represented Agriculture Conference convened by The Reformers here on Monday, demanded of the government to withdraw any ceiling on land holdings, since it was hampering the application of modern tools and technology for increased production.

The conference, a follow on to the Reformers Agriculture Conference held on December 19, 1999, also demanded through a resolution that the state lands provided by the British as free gifts as Jagirs be done away with.

The agriculturists, appreciated the government's realisation of the need for urgent attention to agriculture since it is the backbone of Pakistan's economy, however they were of the view that one of the basic incentive for investment in the agriculture would be to clearly announce that no land ceiling will be introduced by the government in the name of traditional and coercive land reforms.

The conference was of the firm opinion that both local and foreign investment in agriculture sector can be attracted by withdrawing current ceilings and guaranteeing the safety of agricultural investments.

The conference urged the government to encourage larger farms and introduce laws for corporate farming with no ceiling like in many countries. USA and Europe produces surpluses with farm sizes of thousands of acres while small holdings in socialist countries faced deficits confirming that land ceilings were detrimental to increased production, it was added saying that the socialist block was returning to private large size farms due to negative experience of small holdings.

The conference felt that while efficiency in trade and industry is rewarded by addition of more units, the agriculturists are restrained from expanding their holdings due to land ceiling, which is grossly unfair.

The conference reaffirmed through a resolution its support to agriculture income tax by consolidating all existing taxes on agriculture in to one agriculture income tax. PPI