ISLAMABAD: Farmers representative organisation, on Monday, postponed its scheduled ‘tractor march’ after the government assured them of provision of Rs 1,500 subsidy per bag of DAP, and on all phosphorus and potash fertilizers.
The decision was taken in a meeting, which was presided over by Minister for National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) Syed Fakhar Imam, said Pakistan Kissan Itehad (PKI) president Khalid Mehmood Khokhar while talking to Business Recorder.
He said the meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Power and Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan, Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, Secretary Ministry of Finance Kamran Ali, and Secretary MNFS&R Ghufran Memon.
The meeting was convened to discuss electricity tariff on tube well and price of fertilizer, said a notification issued by the MNFS&R.
The PKI had announced to stage tractor march on March 31 to the federal capital, if the government failed to fulfil their demands including reduction of electricity tariff on tube wells, announcement of subsidy on fertilizers, and fixing of cotton support price.
However, Khokhar said no final decision had been made regarding the matter related to electricity tariff on tube wells.
He said the meeting assured the farmers that in that regard, a summary would be moved to the federal cabinet and the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), he said.
The PKI president said the government had not disbursed the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Package among the farmers. The relief in agriculture tube well electricity bills was promised by the prime minister to be resolved within 30 days but despite passage of six months, the promise has not been fulfilled yet, he said.
The ECC, on May 13, had approved Rs 56.6 billion agriculture relief package for farmers to provide them subsidy on fertilizers, cotton seed, pesticides, and sales tax on locally-manufactured tractors.
The stimulus package was part of Rs 1,200 billion coronavirus relief package. The government has disbursed Covid-19 relief package to all sectors except the agriculture sector, Khokhar said. Khokhar said the DAP prices in the country had risen up to Rs5,465 per bag, and no one was ready to use DAP. The price per bag of Urea is Rs 1,720, per bag of SOP Rs4,950, and per bag MOP is Rs3,171, he said. He said the cost of production of different crops had badly increased because of escalated prices of fertilizers, diesel, pesticides, and farm machinery.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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