RAHIM YAR KHAN: The fertiliser shortage crisis has intensified over the past 40 days in the district as a result many small farmers could not complete the wheat sowing process on time.

The Kissan Ittehad (KI) Rahim Yar Khan (Khalid Bath Group) organised a protest rally to highlight the district administration’s ‘apathy’ in tackling fertiliser black marketeering, illegal deductions in sugarcane weight by all mills in the area, and the facilitation of fertiliser dealers by officials in the agriculture department.

The rally started from Shahi Road and ended at the Deputy Commissioner’s office chowk. KI district president Abdul Samad, general secretary Zahid Sharif Mahaar, tehsil president Munawar Salim, and Mirza Muhammad Amin addressed the gathering.

They said the so-called fertiliser shortage crisis had been created by traders and the fertiliser dealer mafia. Despite the presence of three urea plants in the district, which supplied urea across the country, Rahim Yar Khan district alone was receiving 38,000 urea bags daily. However, the fertiliser dealer mafia hoarded substantial quantities in their warehouses, misleading farmers into believing there was a scarcity.

They accused the dealers of denying farmers fertiliser at controlled rates but supplying it at inflated prices upon receiving a higher payment. They alleged collusion between certain district administration officers and these dealers.

They pointed out the failure of the “Sahoolat Centres” established by the district administration for farmers due to ‘complications.’

They said when a farmer, who got a piece of agriculture land on lease, reaches the centre, the staff demands the document of ownership. How can a tenant provide the ownership document? Similarly when an owner of agriculture land wants to get two bags of fertiliser, he pays Rs2,000 for getting his document from revenue office, then he will succeed to get two bags on controlled rate.

The farmer representatives also spoke of grain market traders’ refusal to accept the government-announced rate of Rs8,500 per maund for phutti, opt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dGwMe-M8oE ing instead to procure it at Rs7,400 per maund. Moreover, urea fertiliser bags were being sold at Rs1,500 above the controlled rate.

They criticised the district administration for forcibly selling expensive urea “Zabardast” to farmers at Rs5,500, while traders sold DAP at Rs16,000 against the announced rate of Rs12,000.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023