Lok Sanjh Foundation in collaboration with Pakistan Dehqan Assembly organised a Rice Conference: Rice/Food crisis and livelihood of small rice farmers, on October 15, 2009 at Dera Gujran, Sheikhupura. More than 600 farmers, tenants, landless workers and sister organizations from different parts of District Sheikhupura participated in the event. The conference aimed at strengthening peoples resistance against the introduction of GE Rice and other crops, Plant Breeders Right Act and policy of Corporate Agriculture Farming. The participants also passed key policy recommendations that took almost a year of consultation process with farmers and key stakeholders. These recommendations will be shared with Local Government, Members of Provincial and National Assemblies, Provincial and Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Agricultural Policy Institute and the national print media. Muhammad Asim Yasin while sharing the introduction of GE Rice and PBR Act said that farmers have been growing diverse varieties of crops from generations with the aim to ensure food security to people and conserve land resources. Women pick up best grain and save it for next crop because they know that proper conservation of seed is important for food security. However, over the years, multinational companies are set to steal these important resources from farmers and hatching conspiracies to make the farmers dependents by introducing HYVs and Hybrids and now entering into new phase of corporate control over seed sector by introducing GE seeds. The Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kakoo is in the process of conducting the field trials of Golden Rice with the support of IRRI. It is a potential threat that GE Rice will be introduced in the Basmati producing areas and can ruin the cultural heritage of Basmati varieties famous all over the world for its taste and fragrance. Proposed seed act 2008 and Plant Breeder Rights Act (PBRA) are part of stark examples of Multinational Companies (MNCs), endeavouring to gain control over natural resources by seed. According to proposed acts a greater leverage has been given to MNCs over seeds control. While on the other hand saving, bartering and selling of seeds may have greater implications for farmers community. Farmers who are custodian of seeds from centuries will be deprived from its ownership and every year the poor community have to resort to MNCs to buy seeds or pay royalty to the MNCs while growing any crop spelled proposed seed act 2008. Prof Qamar Mohyuddin said that despite serious concern of farmers community and civil society, the previous government approved Corporate Agriculture Farming (CAF) policy. The present government pushed the policy step ahead and announced to offer six million acre land to resourceful countries and Multinational Companies (MNCs). The announcement has raises many questions and farmers community and other stakeholders showed serious reservation about the issue. Civil Society and Farmer Organisations are warning of far reaching adverse consequences of such polices and raise questions, when our own 75 percent households are landless and poverty is rampant, why we are leasing land to rich Arab countries? Farmers community fears that they would be further marginalized in the wake of corporate farming. Keeping in mind example of African countries where MNCs expand their land and rendered many farmers communities landless. Second, further mechanization of agriculture by resourceful countries or by MNCs will create massive unemployment and add to increase in hunger and poverty. Third, Pakistan is water stressed country and numbers of time farmers could not get good yield due to shortage of water. Fourth, leasing land will further degrade our land. Fifth, before offering such land to rich countries government has not conducted any study regarding environmental consequences, economical impact, social impact and political impact on local people of such leasing. Nek Muhammad, a farmer shared the struggle of the farmers who strived to get approved canal water for their lands and said that in 1988, the sub-channel that was supposed to irrigate their lands was closed due to unknown reasons and when he and his fellow farmers accessed the irrigation department, they were told that sub-channel was closed due to shortage of water but the actual reason was the few landlords who took almost double share of approved canal water by bribing the irrigation departments. The farmers did not lose heart and continued their struggle by approaching the members of parliament and Irrigation Ministry but in vain. The irrigation department offered them for remission of water tax but the farmers rejected the offer and claimed their right to canal water. The struggle is still going on. Ahmad Ali shared his experiences of Ecological Rice Production and SRI and said that he had been working with Lok Sanjh since last four years and practicing Biodiversity based Ecological Agriculture. This year, he learned about SRI from Lok Sanjh decided to allocate one acre for research. He shifted the nursery after 15 days and maintained the plant-to-plant and row-to-row distance at ten inches. He further shared that SRI Techniques worked well with BEA Techniques because it offered space to worms, composts and green manures to enrich the soils with nutrients.