DAP price at Rs 2,200 per 50kg to raise per acre wheat output: FCA meeting held

The government has decided to fix the price of DAP in domestic market at Rs 2,200 per 50-kilogram bag with a view to increasing the production of wheat at 120 kilograms per acre. This was announced by Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) Nazar Muhammad Gondal here on Tuesday after the 89th meeting of the high-powered Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA).
The FCA meeting is held twice a year to fix the production targets of major food and cash crops for Rabi and Kharif seasons. The Minister said that the government was already providing a subsidy of Rs 27 billion on DAP. He said that out of four major Kharif crops; cotton, sugarcane, rice and maize, the production targets of two crops (rice and maize) were achieved while the others remained unachievable.
The production target for cotton was 14.1 million bales, but only 12 million bales were achieved, showing a decline of 15 percent. The target of sugarcane was 56.5 million tones, while 53 million tones achieved - six percent below the target. He said the production target of rice was 5.72 million tons, while this year production was 6.54 million tones, and added the production target of maize was 3.28 million tones while 3.34 million tons achieved successfully.
About the targets of the Rabi crop, he said that the government had decided to set a production target of 25 million tons in 2008-09 for wheat that could be achieved in spite of the 11 percent water shortage.
"We have decided to enhance 120-kilogram wheat production per acre that would lead to an increase of three million tons in the overall production with a total cultivated area of 20.1 million acres. "That is why we are providing a subsidy of Rs 27 billion on DAP to be sold at Rs 2,200 per 50-kilogram bag in domestic market", the Minister added.
He said: "If we succeed in achieving 25 million tons wheat production in 2008-09, then for the next year, we would not have any shortage of the commodity and there will be no need to import wheat at all". The minister said that due to high price of wheat in international market, the government had fixed the support price at Rs 950 per 40-kilogram to help eliminate the hoarding as well as smuggling of the commodity.
He said that the government had decided to initiate a programme with rupees eight billion to enhance the agricultural productivity. The availability of water for Rabi season would be 24 MAF, ie 35 percent less then that of the last year.
"The total consumption of DAP for Rabi is 0.820 million tons, while the available stock is 0.990 million tons and there is no fear of shortage of DAP in the local market", the Minister added. The availability of the seeds of wheat is 190,000 tons, while the gram seeds available are 82,000 tons.
He said: "The government has decided to initiate 'New Crop Insurance Scheme' for farmers to facilitate the small farmers. On any agriculture loan, the government would pay two percent premium itself. On the basis of the 'agriculture pass book' of every farmer, a card would be issued for three years to lend money from any bank.
"If unfortunately any crop becomes damaged, then the government will pay according to cost of production", the Minister added. Gondal said that the Federal government would provide 20,000 tractors across the country and a subsidy of Rs 200,000 per tractor would be given.
He said that the main reason behind the less production of sugarcane was the delay in payments to the sugar growers by the sugar mill owners. "There was an outstanding amount of Rs 48 billion that was supposed to be paid by the sugar mill owners to the sugarcane growers and to overcome the issue, the present government forced them to pay it", he disclosed.
Gondal said that there was no fear of the shortage of sugar as the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) had sufficient stocks available with it. The Punjab government has decided to supply a sufficient quantity of certified seeds of the major crops across the country, he added.
The Minister disclosed that around 336 FIRs had been registered against the substandard fertilisers, while almost 260 million counterfeit medicines had been confiscated, he said. Well-placed sources in the Food Ministry told this scribe that if the government went to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), then it would certainly have to withdraw all the subsidies being provided to the farmers.