Govt to import 100,000 tons fertilisers from China

Provision of flour at lower price one of top priorities of government, says SAPM Cheema

ISLAMABAD:

In a bid to mitigate the ongoing fertiliser crunch, the government will import over one hundred thousand tons of fertilisers from China, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Food Security Jamshed Iqbal Cheema on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference, he said that the government has provided a subsidy worth 132 billion rupees on fertilisers, adding the government was providing a significant subsidy on gas to fertilizers’ manufacturing factories.

Cheema said the provision of flour at a lower price to people is one of the top priorities of the government. He urged people to lodge complaints against those who are selling the flour at higher than fixed rates.

The SAPM said sugar production will witness a remarkable increase in comparison with the past. He said at present, the country has a stock of 4.6 million tons of wheat.

Earlier this month, the federal government had said that a robust system to monitor fertilizer supply and demand with constant monitoring has been put in place that has led to the resolution of issues on a daily basis.

The prime minister, during a meeting, had said that the government was taking strict anti-smuggling and anti-hoarding measures to curb illicit profiteering from urea distribution across the country.

Opp calls for emergency assistance

However, the opposition saw the urea crisis as a new weapon to bludgeon the government, doubling down on its longstanding line of attack on the ruling party.

In a statement, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif decried the urea shortage and demanded that the government check smuggling of the compost and put an end to the exploitation of the farming community.

He likened the suffering of farmers in the country to the victims of the Muree tragedy “who had been abandoned by the government”.

“The people who provide food to the people are crying out for help just like the victims of Murree and the government is missing from the scene as usual,” Sharif said.

If farmers are not helped today, he cautioned, the whole country will suffer tomorrow in case of a shortage of agricultural commodities.

Sharif, who is also the opposition leader in the National Assembly, alleged that growers were not able to get hold of the much-needed fertiliser bag even at the price of gold, saying the commodity had evaporated like other essentials such as flour, sugar and gas.

“It would be better to provide emergency assistance to the farmers and ensure supply of urea than to form a commission and make excuses later.”

Meanwhile, PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb attributed the shortage of urea in Punjab to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s alleged corruption.

In a statement, the PML-N leader said that the farmers were facing problems despite spending a hefty amount. Delay in the provision of fertiliser can lead to a severe wheat crisis in the country, she added.