By Tahir Sherani
Islamabad - The government will give subsidy of Rs.980 per 50 kg on imported urea because it costs Rs.2000 per 50 kg while it will be sold at Rs.1020 per 50kg, The Daily Mail has learnt reliably.
According to sources, due to high prices of urea its consumption had been lessened 20 per cent in the last two months as compare to the corresponding period of last year.
In a meeting with Federal Minister for food and agriculture held recently representatives from the fertilizer sector had said that the combined urea production capacity of the fertilizer companies stands at 6.9 million tons against the domestic demand of 6.3 million tons. They had said that a total of 0.45 million ton of urea shortfall is expected owing to the gas curtailment to the sector and they have already lost a production of 0.15 million tons only in the month of December last year.
The delegates added that imported urea was costly and hurts the domestic industry too. They had said that natural gas was used as raw material in the production of urea and the industry cannot survive without gas. Other industry use gas for fuel andcan be alternated with other sources of energy unlike the fertilizersector and Curtailment of gas was the only reason for low production andincreased prices of urea in the country.
Whereas Federal Minister for Food & Agriculture, Mir Israrullah Zehri has said that the timely availability of one of the key agriculture inputs i.e.
fertilizers is of paramount importance for increasing the production of agriculture sector. He pledged to work closely with Fertilizers Sector and resolve their issues.
"More than seventy percent of our population depends on the agriculture sector for their livelihood. Timely availability of fertilizers at affordable prices is exceedingly crucial to any crop. Our today’s meeting with you is aimed at resolving your genuine problems so that there are no shortages of urea and the farming community does not have to face any inconvenience", said the minister in the meeting.
The minister was said that he would seek the help of the Prime Minister and the President of Pakistan to intervene and resolve the gas supply issue to the fertilizer sector on immediate basis. He further said that the local production of fertilizers is comparatively cheaper and readily available to the farmers. "We are here to safeguard the interests of the farmers at any cost, and would do our best to ensure the provision of all agriculture inputs", expressed the minister.
