Poor farmers of Punjab are seen standing in long queues in front of trailers selling urea fertiliser at fixed price but at the end of the day return empty-handed.
As a result, they are left with no choice but to opt for purchasing urea from the open market, where it is being sold at a high price of Rs1, 000 per 50kg bag, a desperate farmer from Muzaffargarh revealed this to Business Recorder on Sunday.
Some of the farmers also complaint about mishandling of the fertiliser by front men of local MPs, officials of revenue and agriculture extension departments and representatives of District Co-ordination Officers (DCOs) and (patwaris). These dishonest people are busy in distributing the allocated quantity of urea for different districts among themselves and then sell it to local dealers at a profitable rate, another farmer from Multan, Fakhar Siyal said.
'Policemen issuing tokens to farmers on a rough paper at the government's facilitation centres for sale of fertiliser at the set price, not only pocket the amount given to them but sometimes they beat the farmers for demanding back the money when they are denied of the fertiliser,' he said.
Punjab Agriculture Minister, Malik Ahmed Ali Aulakh held the federal government responsible for messing up fertiliser distribution and for shortage of nearly one million tonnes due to one million acres increased in cultivation area in the province.
'The provincial government is definitely facing distribution problem but it is only because of intervention by the federal government.' But he hoped that things would gradually improve.
The Ministry of Industries and Production has fixed the price of urea fertiliser at Rs660 per 50-kg bag and the Trading Corporation of Pakistan is importing the commodity to cope with its shortage.
'Chosen distribution of allocated fertiliser among various stakeholders like MPs, DCOs, DDOs and officials of the extension department is being done on the directives of higher authorities,' alleged a local Executive District Officer (EDO) on a promise of anonymity.
To a question about sale of fertiliser to dealers instead of farmers, the official, expressing his helplessness, said, 'Definitely, a major chunk of profit is pocketed by higher authorities. However, in this whole mess, lower-level officials also have their shares.'
A PPP leader from Bahawalpur told Business Recorder that despite tall claims of Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, actually there was no government in the province and the farmers were at the mercy of profiteers.
Further, Punjab CM has directed provincial Agriculture Secretary, Javed Iqbal Awan to monitor the availability of fertiliser at the set price to the poor farmers in wheat-growing areas.
'There is no shortage of urea fertiliser in any part of the country and farmers are getting the fertiliser at the controlled rate,' the Federal Food and Agriculture Minister, Nazar Mohammad Gondal claimed. Rejecting the need of urea fertiliser during second watering of wheat crop, the minister stressed that there is no need of using urea at this stage.