LAHORE, Jan 10: The shortage of DAP fertiliser in the market for the current wheat crop has pushed up the price of the chemical to Rs1,825 per 50kg bag from Rs925 last year, reducing its usage by half a million bags.

Farmers say the reduced usage of the DAP fertiliser would adversely impact upon the wheat output this year.

The government has fixed a target of 24 million tons for the wheat crop this year.

But the farmers insist that the actual size of the crop would remain far below the target because the country had already missed the sowing target by around four per cent or more.

At the start of sowing the government was confident that wheat would be sown on around 21.1 million acres this year. But it has recently admitted that the target was missed by at least four per cent, which would ultimately impact upon the crop size.

“The late sowing and lesser use of DAP would also reduce the output substantially,” says AgriForum Pakistan Chairman Ibrahim Mughal. “Hence, there is little chance of achieving the wheat output target for the year,” he adds.

He says the crop production is also likely to be hit by low use of certified seed and shortage of canal irrigation water and long duration power cuts that prevented the farmers from irrigating their fields with tube-well water. “Only 20 per cent of the seed sown this year was certified,” he claimed.

He says the government should begin planning to avert a situation being witnessed these days. “Unless the government announces procurement of sufficient quantities of the grain for food security of the population, particularly the urban population, chances are that consumers in cities would find them standing in long queues,” he asserts.