MULTAN, Dec 17: Wheat growers in southern Punjab are finding the going hard as they claim that urea fertiliser has ‘disappeared’ from the market.

According to them, these are the crucial days for utilisation of urea.

The shortage owing to ‘manipulation of market forces’ is leading to the hike in fertiliser prices. Its black-marketing was at its peak when the wheat sowing gained momentum in southern Punjab.

A number of farmers fear less wheat yield this year owing to high urea price, besides shortage of water and low cotton rates.

The government had set the control rate of urea at Rs650 per bag, but dealers were allegedly fleecing the growers.

Agriculture experts and farmers attributed this shortage and hike in prices of fertiliser to lack of governance.

Abdul Rasheed, a farmer from Shujaabad, complained that the urea black-marketing was increasing and it was being sold at high prices against its controlled rate.

He said small growers were victims of acute shortage of urea.

A farmer from Rahim Yar Khan, Muhammad Sharif Dhareja, said farming had become nearly impossible in the face of the rising prices of various fertilisers, seeds and pesticides.

He said urea was hardly available for Rs850 per 50kg bag, which was beyond the purchasing power of poor farmers.

Hazoor Bakhsh, a progressive farmer from Kot Sultan, Layyah, said wheat sowing was at its peak but neither seed nor urea was available in the market, as profiteers had stocked the commodities for black-marketing.

Kisan Board central secretary-general Jam Hazoor Bakhsh said dealers were keeping fertiliser at unidentified places in villages to avoid their sale at controlled rate.

EDO (agriculture) Zaffaryab Haidar Naqvi confirmed the shortage and black-marketing of fertiliser. He said besides activating field assistant staff, he himself was conducting raids on shops and distributing fertiliser among farmers at controlled prices.