QUETTA: Balochistan’s Minister for Agriculture Asadullah Baloch has warned that if immediate measures are not taken to stop smuggling of urea fertiliser to Afghanistan, Balochistan may face a serious agriculture crisis in the coming days.

“The smuggling of urea fertiliser is continuing through different routes to Afghanistan despite tall claims of institutions concerned about action being taken against smugglers,” Mr Baloch said on Wednesday.

He said that 80 per cent population of Balochistan was linked to agriculture sector and if timely supply of urea fertiliser was not ensured, farmers and other people attached to the sector would suffer badly. A food crisis could not be ruled out if the situation was not handled carefully by the federal government.

“Farmers and growers are already affected by drought-like situation in the province due to less rains and snowfall and now they are facing extreme difficulty in getting urea fertiliser for their wheat crop.

The minister alleged that dealers were smuggling urea fertilisers from Balochistan to Afghanistan to get maximum profit.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2022