Islamabad (TDI): The Fertilizer Review Committee (FRC) is satisfied with the country’s current fertilizer reserves of both DAP and urea for the upcoming Rabi season.
This was reassured during a meeting, chaired by Federal Minister for Industries, Production, and National Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain, to review the stock of DAP and urea fertilizers for the forthcoming Rabi season 2024-25.
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During the meeting, Tanveer said that the demand for DAP fertilizer had surged by 44 per cent recently. This was due to the Punjab government’s Kisan Card initiative, he said.
“The DAP offtake estimate for October 2024 was 215,000 tonnes, which has increased by 44% to 309,000 tonnes,” the minister highlighted.
Under its Kisan Card initiative, the Punjab government has disbursed Rs75 billion among farmers as an interest-free loan (Rs 30,000 per acre for seeds, phosphorus, and nitrogen) for 500,000 farmers, each with up to 5 acres (Rs 150,000 per farmer).
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Since then, farmers have drawn Rs18 billion to obtain fertilizers.
The meeting assessed that the utilization of DAP fertilizer is expected to surge further in the coming months.
Rana Tanveer assured that the government had adequate stocks of fertilizers available to meet the surging demand from farmers for the Rabi season.
He warned of strict action against hoarding and price manipulation.
Secretary Ministry of Industries Saif Anjum, the Secretary Ministry of National Food Security Ali Tahir, senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Commerce, Food Security, Industries, and representatives of provincial governments and other stakeholders also attended the meeting.
