Lahore. Wheat is cultivated on almost 22 million acres in Pakistan. Urea fertilizer
consumption of this crop is around 2.2 million metric tons. Its application starts on December 15 and continues till first week of February.
In a press release issued on Tuesday , Pakistan Kissan ittehad said wheat crop’s productivity for Rabi 2020-21 remains crucial for Pakistan’s food security considering 3 million metric tons of wheat had to be imported in 2020 to
bridge the supply-demand gap and consequently, control its market prices. Being aware of their national responsibility, farmers with the support of Federal and provincial governments, have sown wheat on a large scale this year.
Wheat has been sown on more than 22 million acres in Pakistan. With this achievement there has been a sizeable increase in demand for urea fertilizer. Its availability on controlled price of Rs. 1,668 per 50 kg bag is becoming challenging day by day as market rates currently range from Rs.1,725 to as high as Rs. 1,760.
Rise in market prices, despite urea manufacturers are supplying urea at
Rs.1668/50kg bag, is mainly due to gap between rising demand and short supply.
Two Urea manufacturing plants are not operational, FatimaFert and
AgriTech. Combined production capacity of these two plants can add an additional
70,000 metric tons of urea per month in the system and most importantly, ease
supply constraints in the market.
Pakistan Kissan Ittehad appeals to the government to take immediate action to
ensure sufficient supply of urea in the market so that its timely availability at
controlled rates to farmers is ensured. Immediate corrective action will help in
achieving the production target of 27 million metric tons and potentially save
Pakistan from the burden of importing 3 to 4 million metric tons of wheat again this year.
Pakistan Kissan Ittehad president , Khalid Khokhar, is seriously worried over short supply of urea to the farmers He urged upon prime minister , Imran Khan, to take notice of short supply of urea to the farmers so that they could make timely use of it possible to get maximum agricultural production to make Pakistan self reliant on wheat production to help it meet its demand in 2020-21.