Three provincial governments have agreed to contribute for continuation of subsidy on fertilizers to growers except the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that was not willing to contribute its share to the subsidy scheme, the sources said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently directed continuation of provision of subsidy on fertilizers terming agriculture was backbone of country’s economy and farmers’ facilitation to achieve high crop yield.
The sources said that Rs 27.96 billion have been allocated in FY 2016-17 for the subsidy to be equally shared by the federal and provincial governments. The subsidy includes Rs 17.16 billion subsidy on urea and Rs 10.8 billion for DAP and other phosphate fertilizers.
In pursuance of PM’s directions, the Ministry of National Food Security & Research held a meeting with representatives of all the provincial governments, Finance Ministry, Ministry of Industries & Production, FBR, National Fertilizer Development Center and National Fertilizer Marketing Limited.
So far, only the Punjab government has agreed to contribute Rs 3.5 billion to Rs 4 billion as its 50 per cent share for continuation of subsidy on fertilizers. The Sindh and Balochistan governments agreed to provide their respective shares after approval from their cabinets, which is likely to be granted in a week time.
