ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar presided over the high-level meeting on the new Fertiliser Policy on Thursday. The meeting was attended by Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar and Minister for Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam. The senior officials of these ministries were also present.
The meeting deliberated on framework of Fertiliser Policy in detail. It was briefed that upcoming policy would be structured on three broad areas i.e. demand, supply and pricing of soil nutrients.
It was discussed that the issue of rationalization of gas sale agreements and supply-chain maintenance through local production or imports in conjunction with demand projections would be addressed in the new Fertiliser Policy.
During discussion, Bakhtyar noted that unlike previous governments, incumbent government utilised the optimal capacity of the urea plants to meet the demands in outgoing Rabi season. He said that the local industry witnessed record production 6.3 MMT urea this year due to timely actions of government.
Minister Khusro Bakhtyar emphasised to encourage the application of nutrients balance into soil in Rabi and Kharif season to enhance the productivity of cultivated area in country. For this, he advised to formulate a comprehensive policy framework with reference to infrastructure development and farmer support mechanism on long-term basis.
Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar laid stress on efficiency analysis of manufacturing plants vis-a-vis gas consumption of the running plants to maximise the output production of fertilisers.
The meeting concluded with formation of three sub-committees separately to work on supply, demand and pricing strategy of fertilisers within existing agronomic practices. The sub-committees will comprise of officials of Ministry of Industries and Production, Ministry of Food Security and Research, Ministry of Energy - Petroleum Division and one representative from Ministry of Planning and Special Initiatives as well as technical experts of the field. The sub-committees are directed to present collaborative policy draft in next meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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