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- April 21, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
LAHORE: The farming community is suffering a double-edged sword as the cost of production has doubled since 2023 and the average decline in the commodity prices of major crops (wheat, cotton, and maize) has resulted in a 25% drop in pricing. Agriculture is once again facing difficult times. The Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) president, Khalid Mahmood Khokhar, made these remarks here on Saturday and urged the industry to “save our souls.” Together, these two elements have eliminated the viability of the farming industry. He claims that in 2023, farmers paid market exploiters an enormous sum of Rs300 billion (beyond the MRP set by the fertilizer sector) in exchange for the illegal trading of urea.
The government failed to ensure the availability of urea at the designated rates despite farmers’ protests. Despite these setbacks, farmers worked hard to guarantee the country’s food security by growing the amount of land planted to wheat and the productivity per acre. This resulted in a record-breaking national production of almost 29 million tonnes. Farmers anticipated assistance from the government in the form of an increase in the wheat support price, which would have to be at least Rs4,000 per 40kg, in light of all these “adversaries.” But rather than alleviating the farmers’ suffering, the government made the unexpected decision to import massive amounts of wheat right before harvest, which sent the price of 40kg of wheat plunging from Rs3,900 to Rs3,000. Second, the government dealt farmers “another devastating blow was dealt by the recent increase in gas prices, which led to a rise in the cost of urea” about Rs 1,000 per bag. According to him, this action demonstrates how policymakers took use of the black marketing tactic by supposing that growers would be able to bear the price increase of urea.
A clear plan for the farming industry is not currently apparent. With every agricultural season that goes by, the farmers’ complaints get worse and worse. The nation’s food security and economic prosperity could be seriously jeopardized if this is not resolved quickly. Since farmers cannot afford to engage in cotton cultivation during the current cropping season, cotton, which accounts for over 60% of the country’s exports, is seriously threatened. To aid in market stabilization, Khokhar suggests that the federal and local governments begin purchasing two million tons of wheat at the disclosed amount right away. In terms of wheat output, Punjab accounts for almost 75% of the total.
Instead of the present market pricing of about Rs5,000 per bag, the federal government should step in to ensure that urea is available nationwide at a maximum rate of Rs4,000 per bag. Pakistan Kissan Ittehad calls on the federal and provincial governments to act immediately to address the real problems of the country’s affordable urea supply and the current wheat support price to prevent anticipated farmer demonstrations. According to Khokhar, the federal government has been ignoring the urea pricing issue for a long time, and it is now irreparably harming farmers.