Government urged to take notice of non-availability of fertilisers

Farmers organisations have urged the government to take notice of non-availability of fertilisers and its black-marketing in the country causing severe problem to the farmers. They said the situation might also affect the per acre yield of different crops.
Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) Pakistan President Sardar Zafar Hussein Khan said here on Monday that black-marketing of fertilisers was one of the key problems being faced by the farmers in the country. He alleged that hoarders were earning Rs 100-150 per bag on Urea and Rs 1000 per bag on DAP fertilisers.
He said substandard and spurious fertiliser was another problem and appealed to the Agriculture Minister to take notice of this problem. He urged the Minister to scrutinise the matter himself so that black sheep present in the agriculture department could be stopped from minting money from the on-going campaign against fake and substandard fertilisers.
Pakistan Kissan Movement President Chaudhry Ashfaq has criticised the non-availability of fertiliser in the market, saying this will badly affect the yields of different agricultural crops.
He said this while talking to newsmen after a tour of the Punjab province and said that the farmers are running from pillar to post to find fertiliser but certain black-marketers and dealers of fertiliser have hidden their stocks in godowns and are indulging into black marketing, demanding high prices like Rs 50-70 extra on each fertiliser bag.
Now the situation is that poor farmers' standing crops like sugarcane, plantation of cotton and rice are planted without fertiliser and what yields the farmers would get that worries us, he added.
He appealed to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister Punjab to take strict action against such hoarders by recovering the hidden fertiliser out of the godowns of the mafia to ensure availability and supply of this commodity in the market enabling farmers to get at the government announced rates.
He also apprehended that if this situation continued, resultantly next year there are chances of serious crisis, which would not be only in food but in all agriculture commodities as their yields, would considerably drop.
The country might get into another agricultural crisis. In order to avert such crisis government should move fast to control the fertiliser prices by taking strict action against the fertiliser factory owners and fertiliser dealers so as to save the farmers from the clutches of such elements who are bent upon sucking the blood of the poor farmers.