KARACHI, Sept 8: The Sindh Agriculture department is set to launch a campaign ‘Grow More Wheat” for encouraging farmers to produce more of the commodity.

Agriculture Secretary Subhago Khan Jatoi told Dawn on Monday that the campaign would be launched to address concerns of possible food shortage and high commodity prices in the global market.

During the drive, growers will be provided subsidised farm inputs and quality seeds to increase their output.

Seminars and workshops would be organised to educate farmers on the benefits of increasing productivity.

Answering a question about steps taken to remove shortage of urea for the Kharif crops, wheat, rice and cotton, the secretary said the department had so far distributed 500,000 bags of urea among growers. The distribution network had been set up at tehsil level for the smooth delivery of fertiliser in remote areas and police help had been sought to avoid incidences of snatching of urea bags, he added.

The secretary said on the insistence of the agriculture ministry, fertiliser companies had increased Sindh’s quota in urea production, which would be 34 per cent against 23 per cent by Fauji Fertiliser Company and 60 per cent against 45 per cent by Engro.

He said consumption of urea during the month of September had been estimated at 150,000 bags of which 145,000 bags had been committed with the arrival of a second urea ship at the Karachi Port.

Most of the crops such as rice, cotton, sugarcane and banana would require final application of urea this month, hence, no more fertiliser would be required beyond 150,000 bags.

The department had urged fertiliser companies to increase their supplies to Dadu district and supply about 3,000 bags in the district compared to 24,000 bags in Larkana, he said, adding that with ease in availability of urea, price of a 50kg bag had come down to Rs750-800 from Rs1,150.

Answering a question about the pest attack in Sindh, Mr Jatoi said that the attack of mealy bug was reported on cotton crops in all the 23 districts but it was controlled with distribution of predators of the virus imported from abroad. About 40,000 predators were provided to the farmers to counter the attack of the virus.

About crops’ position in the province, the secretary said the rice crop was expected to be 20 per cent higher than the previous year because cultivated area this year increased to 691,000 hectares as compared to the 578,000 hectares of last year.

He, however, admitted that the cotton crop would be less than the targeted three million bales because some growers had switched over to sunflower crop, which was a cash crop and needed less water. Similarly, sugarcane crop is expected to drop by 30 per cent as many growers changed over to rice due to non-payment of their produce by mills last year. He, however, vowed to meet the cotton target with the help of better per acre yield.

The secretary expressed concern over rising prices of DAP fertiliser in the international market, which has reached to Rs5,200 per bag.

In Pakistan, a DAP bag is provided to growers at Rs3,000 with a Rs1,000 subsidy.