Govt mulling measures to offset rise in fertiliser prices

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday said it is considering measures to offset rise in prices of fertiliser in a bid to ensure their availability to farmers at accessible rates across the country.

Syed Fakhar Imam, minister for National Food Security and Research said the trend of increasing prices of DAP fertiliser ranging between Rs6,500 to Rs7,500 was a serious concern for the government.

"The government would ensure availability of fertiliser on accessible prices particularly to the small growers."

The minister reiterated the government's resolve for ensuring certified, high yielding and rust resistant seeds and fertilisers for wheat to achieve higher per-acre crop output during coming season.

Chairing a meeting of Agriculture

Policy Institute (API), Committee on Wheat 2021-22 Crop, Imam said that the government would formulate policy to increase per-acre production of wheat, adding that minimum support price would also be announced before the sowing season.

The minister said the government was focusing on availability of certified seed and for the upcoming season, around 530,000 metric tons would be available including 160,000 tons rust-tolerant varieties.

"There is a need of paradigm shift in the yield of this crop as the country despite being 8th largest producer of wheat is still standing at 64th position in terms of productivity at the global level."

Minister said small holders will only be able to grow wheat if the quality inputs were timely available and in the range of farmer's access.

He said increase in minimum support price for wheat crop, from Rs1,400 to Rs 1,800 produced a good result which helped the country in harvesting the highest crop 27.5 million tons, adding that a number of factors helped in achieving the historic production including favorable weather conditions, availability of certified seed about 513,000 ton, availability of fertilisers and irrigation and water.

The minister stressed the need for establishing linkages between the scientists and farmers mainly to minimize the gap between the results of research farm with that of the actual field.

Abdul Karim, Director General API presented economic analysis based on various key factors of the crop such as short and long term growth trends in area, yield and production.

He also apprised the meeting about the cost of production estimates, import

parity prices, average market price in the post-harvest season, trends in regional minimum support prices during last 10 years, estimates of domestic requirements of wheat, world balance sheet and other important economic aspects of the crop.