Agri Forum Pakistan Chairman Muhammad Ibrahim Mughal said that the continuous increase in the prices of fertiliser is resulting in declining demand, consequently leading to a decrease in agricultural production. While talking to media after a seminar on agriculture, Mughal claimed that previous increases in the price of fertiliser in year 2009-10 had resulted in an additional burden of average Rs25,000 on poor growers’ families.
While rebutting the claims made by government officials about the control on fertiliser prices, he asked, why they have made such claims if they cannot control prices. Are they not aware of the current sky rocketing prices of eatables and other food items? He alleged that the fertiliser manufacturers bribed the government departments to approve and fix the prices of their products according to their will.
He said that the fertiliser manufacturers are not printing price on bags and no one is questioning them. ‘Fertiliser manufacturers have made a state within a state,’ Mughal added. Agri Forum Chairman demanded the government to fix prices of DAP fertilisers at Rs3500 per bag, urea at Rs1200 and nitrophos at Rs1800 per bag.
