‘Steps being taken to ensure availability of quality fertilizers’

LAHORE:The government is committed to lowering the price and improving supply line of DAP

fertilizer especially at the time of wheat sowing to ensure timely availability of agricultural inputs to farmers.

These views were expressed by Punjab Provincial Minister for Agriculture Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi during a meeting with a delegation of All Pakistan Fertilizer Dealers Association(APFDA) here Friday.

The agriculture minister said that standard agricultural inputs were of fundamental importance for achieving the agricultural production targets. Therefore, the government is taking steps to ensure availability of quality fertilisers. On the instructions of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Bazdar, the Agriculture Task Force has seized fake pesticides and substandard fertilisers worth Rs400 million and registered 2300 FIRs against the persons involved in this crime during the last three years, the agriculture minister said. He said the Punjab government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy against the traders involved in sale of substandard fertilizers.