LAHORE: Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) President Khalid Mahmood Khokhar has claimed that the wheat production in the country would drastically decline after the government shut down two Urea making factories last week.
“The government has shut down two Urea factories on January 4, 2023. These two factories had been producing around 77,000 tons of urea per month,” said Khalid in a statement issued on Sunday. He said that this will create havoc for the farmers and people of Pakistan.
According to PKI president, urea is required in January and February for the application of wheat crop. “With urea shortage, the wheat production will go down drastically spelling disaster for Pakistan, which does not have foreign exchange to import wheat,” he added.
He said that urea was being sold to the farmers at Rs 2,900 per bag against the maximum retail price of Rs 2,440 per bag. This black marketing is happening due to existing shortage of the urea in the country, he said, adding that farmers paid around Rs 60 billion extra due to shortage of urea last year.
Khalid further said that with the closure of the two factories, urea prices in the market will now jump to over Rs 3,000 per bag instead of MRP Rs 2,440 per bag, and there is no one to stop the black marketing of the much-needed fertilizer. “Black marketing will rule and the farmers as well as the masses will suffer due to the cruel decision of the government,” he added.
He regretted that food security is given top priority in many countries of the world. By shutting down urea factories, he said, the government is shutting down the ability of the country to produce its own food. “Pakistan will become dependent on other countries for feeding its people and importing food.”
According to Khalid, it is not possible to grow food or cash crops without free availability of urea. Urea shortage means shortage of food crops like wheat and export crops like cotton, rice and maize. Shortage of Urea will also impact Pakistan’s exports due to lack of enough raw material,” he said and urged the government to immediately re-start all urea factories.
He said the request is made in the interest of preventing food shortage in Pakistan and ensuring exports. He said the total urea market demand in Pakistan is around 6.8 million tons per annum. This is already higher than the total maximum domestic production capacity of 6.5 million tons per annum (with all factories running to full capacity for full year).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023