By Muhammad Luqman
All the fertilizer manufacturing companies in Pakistan have raised the price of urea fertilizer by Rs 100 per bag ,leaving the farmers community upset.
Now 50 kilogram urea bag is available at a price of Rs 1500 (US $ 14) across the South Asian country, considered agro-based economy.
This is a single major jump in the price of urea fertilizer after about similar but gradual increase of approximately Rs 90 per bag was recorded between October 2017 and April 2018, registering almost 15 per cent rise in the cost of this major agriculture input.
Market insiders believe that Monday’s price boost is not part of an underhand deal between government and manufacturers to recover subsidy amount. However, there is no word from the official quarters yet about this price escalation.
According to the manufactuers, price jack is a uniform increase by all manufacturers. The decision has been made apparently following failure of the outgoing government to clear backlog of subsidy amount. The present government gave Rs 100 per bag subsidy to farmers on urea through producers but failed to pay back subsidy and now present setup wrapping up with no commitment to clear subsidy backlog, explained sources.
The backlog of unpaid subsidy is as high as Rs 20 billion, according to the manufactuers.
Farmers organizations have strongly criticized the increase in the prices of urea. Khalid Mehmood Khokhar, President Pakistan Kissan Ittehad said that withdrawal of subsidy means reversing all measures one by one . Farming was not feasible due to high cost of inputs if compared with other neighbouring countries, he said , adding that federal government took initiative and gradually reduced this cost to some extent over the last couple of years.
However, he warned, increase in urea bag would directly affect yield of crops like cotton, wheat and rice. The fertilizer manufacturers have no right to increase price of urea unilaterally, he observed.
Sarfraz Khan, Vice President Kissan Board Pakistan has criticized the federal government and urea manufacturers for this major jump. He was of the view that urea utilization as fertilizer has been high, which is a good omen for productivity of crops. But increase in price will discourage farmers to use this important input.
Brig (Retd) Sher Shah, Executive Director Fertiliser Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council confirmed that Rs 100 per bag increase has been made in price of urea fertilizer. He said that as federal government was not fulfilling its commitment of paying huge subsidy amount, manufacturers were left with no option but to raise the price.
