Urea price reduced Rs375 to Rs1,665/bag: minister

ISLAMABAD: The government has reduced urea price by Rs375/bag to provide relief to the farmers, the new price of a fifty-kilogram bag has been fixed at Rs1,665, a minister said on Thursday.

“The government was cognisant of the issues facing growers and was undertaking measures to resolve them,” said Khusro Bakhtiar, Minister for National Food Security & Research, in a meeting with Khalid Mehmood Khokhar, president Pakistan Kissan Ittehad.

The minister said the development and modernisation of agriculture sector was a high priority of the government, which was evident from initiation of various agriculture programmes.

Bakhtiar informed the growers’ association leader that prices of fertiliser had declined after a huge reduction in GIDC rate and measures were being taken to ensure uninterrupted supply to farmers. During the meeting, issues of cotton crop and electricity supply to the farmers were also discussed.

The minister further said the government was committed to provide full support to the farmers to increase the agricultural productivity. The government in January 2020 had drastically cut the rate of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) on gas for fertiliser manufacturers with an aim to provide relief to farmers so that they could buy more fertiliser and improve their production.

The GIDC on feed gas for fertiliser sector was reduced from Rs300/mmbtu to Rs5/mmbtu. Besides, GIDC on gas fuel stock has also been reduced from earlier Rs150/mmbtu to Rs5/mmbtu. Now, instead of GIDC of Rs440/mmbtu, the fertilisers manufacturers are being charged Rs10/mmbtu for both feed stock and fuel stock. Urea, which was being sold at Rs2040/bag, has come down to Rs1,665 per 50kg bag.

Last fiscal, Pakistan’s agriculture growth was recorded at less than a percent with a major hit taken by cash crops, especially cotton that feeds textile industry, which earns foreign exchange for the country through exports.