Karachi: Pakistan is the only country out of the top five major urea consumers \u2013 including China, Brazil, USA, and India – that is, unfortunately, not investing in capacity growth over the next five years, even though it is facing a rapid surge in population. A robust domestic fertilizer industry can prove to be an invaluable partner for the Government to help achieve greater food security and agricultural exports under the Green Initiative Pakistan. \u201cAs the fertilizer production in Pakistan has stagnated over time, the Government is forced to spend increasingly significant amounts of valuable foreign exchange to import urea. To transform the agriculture sector under the Green Initiative, it is crucial to prioritize sustainable gas supplies for the fertilizer sector and resolution of other outstanding issues. It could potentially aid the export of excess production and earn much-needed foreign exchange for Pakistan,\u201d Brig Sher Shah added. Brig Sher Shah, Executive Director of Fertilizer Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) said that, \u201cThe importance of a strong indigenous fertilizer manufacturing industry cannot be underscored enough to achieve sustained economic growth and the envisaged goals of Green Initiative Pakistan. The fertilizer industry stands with the Government to play its pivotal role in the next green revolution through abundant and affordable supplies of urea, balanced use of fertilizers, improved agri practices and upskilling of our hardworking farmers.\u201d He highlighted the success of Fertilizer Policy 2001 in attracting around PKR 162 billion in new plants and capacity expansions of almost 2 million tons by the fertilizer manufacturers. Our Correspondent
\nThe industry has also completely passed on the benefit of incentivized gas pricing under Fertilizer Policy 2001 to the farmers by selling urea at significant discount to international prices.
\nBrig Sher Shah also expressed support for the Government\u2019s resolve to curb blackmarketing and hoarding of urea. \u201cThese illegal activities result in higher market prices for the farmers and create a false impression that fertilizer manufacturers are earning unreasonable profits. The industry earnings are in line with any other key sector of the economy, whereas it has always shielded the farmers from higher international urea prices and contributed towards the country\u2019s food security.\u201d
\nHe shared that an improvement in crop support prices and availability of cheaper domestically produced urea have resulted in considerable improvement in farm economics. Data shows that, currently, a farmer can barter one urea bag to equivalent of around 30kg wheat, while in past years it was tradeable for 58kg. Contrary to popular perception that urea comprises a higher share of farmers\u2019 costs, urea cost was around only 7 percent of wheat production cost per acre. Based on field surveys, urea also remains a minor cost of around 3 percent of the farmer\u2019s total household spend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karachi: Pakistan is the only country out of the top five major urea consumers \u2013 including China, Brazil, USA, and India – that is, unfortunately, not investing in capacity growth over the next five years, even though it is facing a rapid surge in population. A robust domestic fertilizer industry can prove to be an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n