Govt to provide growers Rs37bn subsidy on fertilisers

ISLAMABAD: The federal government would provide Rs37 billion subsidy on fertilisers to growers under its agriculture relief package to cope with the COVID-19 after-effects to maintain food safety and security in the country.

The relief package aims to boost agriculture production, support farmers and enhance per acre farm income to alleviate poverty from the country.

The subsidy would be provided for next Kharif season crop, which began from April this year and would last till October, said a senior official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

Talking to APP, he said a subsidy of Rs925 per bag to DAP and other phosphatic fertilisers and Rs243 per bag on urea and other nitrogen fertiliser had been worked out.

He further informed that estimated urea off-take would be 3.04 million tonnes and DAP was estimated at 0.95 million tonnes for the Kharif season.

The subsidy scheme, the official, said would be implemented by the provinces and the amount would be disbursed through scratch card scheme, already being implemented by Punjab.

He further said the fertiliser share in cost of production for major crops was around 10 to 15 per cent, adding the provision of subsidy would reduce the cost of production for farmer and increase the affordability of farmer to adopt the recommended level of fertiliser nutrient use and best agricultural management practices.

It may be recalled here that the government has announced a fiscal package of over Rs1,200 billion in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of this package, an amount of Rs100 billion has been earmarked for relief to agriculture and small and medium enterprises.

The Ministry of National Food Security and Research has prepared proposals for incentives to the farmers in various sub-sectors of agriculture to cope with the COVID-19 aftereffects.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had approved a multi-billion agriculture package to provide the farmers subsidy on fertilisers, reduction in bank mark-up on agriculture loans, subsidy on cotton seed and white fly pesticides and sales tax subsidy on locally manufactured tractors.