LAHORE: The government’s decision to disburse free fertilisers to the flood-hit farmers will bear no fruit as farmers badly need cheap electricity and diesel in order to achieve the desired results, stakeholders of the agriculture sector told Pakistan Today.
They apprised Pakistan Today that fertilisers are used to increase fertility of the land and augment yield of crops. However, the fertility of land had already increased due to floods, thus government’s spending on fertilisers was ridiculous. They urged the government to invest on other needs of the farmers.
The Punjab government is giving free urea and seeds of wheat to the farmers incurring a cost of three billion rupees. Out of the total amount, half of the cost would be borne by the Federal government while the rest would be arranged by the Punjab government.
Farmers who possess a maximum 25 acres of land would benefit from the government scheme. The government plans to distribute one bag of urea and one bag of wheat seed for each acre. Both products would cost the government approximately Rs 2,000-2,100 for each acre.
The government would distribute these items to around 200,000 farmers of 1452 villages. The farmers and agriculturists blamed the government for distributing a cheaper form of urea, whereas farmers needed DAP which was quite expensive.
“The government has announced to give urea bag with a price of around Rs 800-825 per bag but it is not useful for the farmers,” said Agri Forum Chairman Ibrahim Mughal adding that DAP (another type of fertiliser) should be given.
“DAP bag costs Rs 3,300-3,400 and more helpful but it is not provided due to its expense,” he said adding DAP protects the crop from attacks of viruses and insects, whereas, urea only increases the fertility.
The agriculturists said that lands under floodwater become fertile automatically and there was little need of fertilisers.
A former senior official of agriculture department Ghulam Muhammad said that floodwater brings rich soil. He said that it was only a political slogan by the Punjab government of distributing free fertilisers. “The government has not given DAP, which is more helpful for the crop growth,” he lamented.
However, the government officials insisted and argued on the advantages of urea. “There is a need of urea and we are giving it free of cost to the farmers,” said Punjab government spokesman Pervaiz Rasheed while talking to Pakistan Today. He said farmers in possession of more than 25 acres of land would not be given urea and seeds.
Farmer’s Association Pakistan (FAP) Director and Chief Co-ordinator Mohammad Tariq Bucha said that the government should have given cheap diesel and electricity instead of spending money on urea.
‘The agriculture sector would spend an additional Rs 17 billion only on expensive electricity and diesel,” he said adding that if the government spending on these products is more viable rather than distributing urea etc.
Agriculture Secretary Arif Nadeem said a schedule has been prepared for distribution of free seed and fertiliser among cultivators affected by flood and vouchers will be issued from October 28 to November 12 whereas seed and fertilisers would be distributed free of cost from October 30 to November 16.
He said in the second phase, lists of affected farmers would be displayed on November 07 and vouchers will be distributed from November 13 to November 22, while fertilisers and seed would be distributed from November 17 to 26.
