Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday chaired a meeting to review the current availability and supply position of urea in the country, as well as its future requirements. He said that two-thirds of the country's population lives in rural areas and the best way to benefit the farmers is to assure them market prices for their produce. The Prime Minister was informed that the demand for urea, which was growing at four percent till 2002-03, has shown an increase of 8.7 percent and 10 percent in the last two years.
Shaukat Aziz was pleased to learn about the exponential growth in demand of urea and observed that this is a testimony of the successful agriculture policies pursued by the government and clear evidence that there has been an increase in the liquidity in the rural areas because of increase in support prices.
The Prime Minister was also informed that there is sufficient availability of urea at present; however there was a need to look ahead and cater to future requirements because of growing demand.
After a detailed discussion it was decided in principle that a new fertiliser plant should be installed in order to meet the future needs of agriculture sector.
Shaukat Aziz said that the quality of our urea is good and if there is a surplus production it can be exported. The meeting was attended by Minister for Industries, Jahangir Khan Tareen and other senior officials.