Government urged to Further Decrease Fertilizer Prices

HYDERABAD, Jan 27: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on Sunday urged the federal government to further decrease the price of fertilizer as the relief of Rs 200 per bag of urea given in the Finance Supplementary Bill, 2019, was insufficient.

Addressing an SCA meeting here, its president Qabool Muhammad Khatian said the agriculture sector was suffering from hikes in input prices in last few months. The prices of urea and DAP fertilizer had increased from Rs 1,380 and Rs 2,800 to Rs1,850 and Rs 3,800 per bag respectively, he added.

The meeting also expressed concern over the low rate of the wheat crop.The crop had been badly hit in Mirpurkhas, Badin and Umerkot districts due to shortage of irrigation water, it added.

The SCA demanded the Sindh Government to fix Rs1,500 per 40 kg procurement price of wheat. In case the rate was not revised, the provincial government might fail to achieve the procurement target from southern Sindh, it warned.

The meeting claimed that due to shortage of water at the Sukkur and Kotri barrages, a food crisis might entail.

(APP)