Sindh asked to go after hoarders

Meeting reviews urea supply to farmers, action taken against profiteers

ISLAMABAD:

As a crackdown on hoarders continues following a sharp rise in prices of fertiliser, the federal government has accused Sindh of failure to take action against the hoarders.

In a meeting held on Friday to review the supply of fertiliser, the Centre alleged that Sindh had become a safe-haven for fertiliser hoarders. At the same time, the federal government praised the administration of Punjab, which was supplied 4% less fertiliser this season, for its efforts.

Fertiliser market has emerged as another area of concern where farmers are being fleeced. Earlier, a surge in prices of sugar, cooking oil and wheat hit consumers hard and pushed up inflation reading.

During the crackdown, the authorities confiscated a huge quantity of fertiliser and auctioned it at a fixed price.

Hoarders have now become active in the fertiliser market after sugar mafia made a quick buck on the back of a sharp increase in sweetener’s prices.

Market players say fertiliser dealers are looting farmers with unjust increase in prices. The dealers are selling di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser at a record price of around Rs10,000 per 50kg bag - the highest in the country’s history, they say.

Dealers have also pocketed billions of rupees by selling urea at a higher price of Rs3,000 per bag.

High prices of fertiliser are feared to increase the cost of input and dent the income of farmers as sowing of Pakistan’s staple crop wheat has got underway.

Pakistan has become a net importer of wheat after remaining self-sufficient for years.

If input prices continue to remain perched at higher levels, wheat farmers will be forced to switch over to other crops, which may spark food crisis in the country, experts warn.

All leading fertiliser manufacturers insist that they are supplying urea at the fixed price of Rs1,768 per 50kg bag and have requested farmers not to pay more than this price.

However, the farmers argue that they are being forced to buy urea for Rs3,000 per bag.

The fertiliser supply review meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar. Representatives of fertiliser manufacturers were present in the huddle.

Punjab chief secretary apprised the meeting of action taken by the provincial government against hoarders in the past two weeks. Inspection teams of the province arrested the people involved in the hoarding of urea and seized 276,000 tonnes during raids.

Later, the district administration auctioned the urea at the notified price of Rs1,768 per bag.

Fertiliser industry shared the latest urea supply data through a real-time portal, which showed some distribution anomalies across provinces.

Urea supply to Punjab fell 4% this season whereas Sindh got 52% higher supplies from September to November compared to last year.

Speaking to the meeting, the industries minister accused Sindh of becoming a safe-haven for the hoarders and profiteers.

He appreciated efforts of the Punjab government against the hoarders and expected the Sindh administration to take similar measures to provide urea at affordable prices for higher wheat production in the interest of public at large.

The minister remarked that due to the negligence of Sindh government in controlling prices of essential commodities, especially in Karachi and Hyderabad, the inflation rate had increased in the country.

In concluding remarks, the minister stated that the federal government was taking measures for smooth supply of urea at affordable prices to help farmers in the planting of wheat crop.

He praised fertiliser manufacturers for blacklisting the hoarders in an effort to streamline the urea supply chain.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2021.

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