Looming crisis : Fertiliser shortage threatens K-P’s agricultural economy

Decreased food production imminent if woes of farmers not addressed soon

PESHAWAR:

After queuing up all day, Shafeeq Khan, a resident of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) capital, could only manage to get his hands on two bags of fertilisers which left him angry and frustrated at the ongoing fertiliser shortage in the province.

The 35-year-old Shafeeq complained that the two bags were not enough for his wheat crop which was planted on nearly 10 acres of land. “After waiting all day, the shopkeepers only sold me two bags and I fear this minimal amount will reduce our wheat production by half,” Shafeeq lamented while talking to The Express Tribune.

However, as per Shafeeq, he is not the only victim of the ongoing shortage as hundreds of farmers across the province stand in queue every day to get their hands on what seems like a luxury item now. “On the one hand the government claims that they have given us farmers relief but on the other the farmers stand in front of shops just to get a whiff of fertiliser,” a visibly irate Shafeeq said.

Naimat Shah, provincial President of the Farmers Association, concurring with Shafeeq’s remarks, said that the present shortage was terrible. According to Naimat, diammonium phosphate (DAP), which is the most used phosphorus fertiliser across the world, used to cost Rs3,000 a bag and now the price has risen to Rs7,000 a bag. “The problems do not end there; the other popular fertiliser, urea, is not even available and shopkeepers sell it for exorbitant prices now,” Naimat said. The price of a bag of urea which was previously Rs1,700 has now drastically increased to Rs3,000 per bag, as per Naimat.

“Even with the high prices farmers can only buy two to three bags of the fertiliser; how are they supposed to ensure high production?” Naimat inquired from The Express Tribune. He said that previously the government would arrange subsidized fertiliser for the farmers but this time around the government had turned a blind eye towards the plight of the farmers. “If the current situation goes on then not only will production struggle but it will negatively affect important crops like wheat and sugarcane, which are the main sources of income for farmers,” Naimat said despondently.

Agriculture specialist, Professor Doctor Dost Muhammad, from the Agriculture University in Peshawar, while talking to The Express Tribune, sounded the alarm bells for a potential food shortage given the lack of availablity of fertilzier. “Due to the fertiliser shortage in the country and especially in K-P, food production is going to decline massively and if the government does not take remedial measures then we will be looking at extreme levels of a food shortage,” Dost warned.

He was of the view that waiting and then importing fertiliser from other countries once the problem has gotten worse is not a sustainable solution. “Our ability to not produce fertiliser is a failure of the agriculture department and the government in general,” Dost said.

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Fakhar Imam, when inquired about the fertiliser shortage acknowledged the problem and plight of farmers. “We import fertiliser from other countries and that is why we presently have a crisis. We have decided to import 100,000 tons of fertiliser from China to reduce the crisis,” Fakhar informed. Whilst stating that the situation would soon improve, he added that the federal government had given 8 billion rupees to the provincial governments for the procurement of fertiliser.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2022.