Though things were never hunky-dory whatsoever during the previous elected dispensation in Punjab, the situation has gone from bad to worse. While every stratum of the province is feeling the heat of its ineptness and poor governance, it is farmers who are all the more bearing the brunt of this. There has been a perennial crisis of fertilizers in the province. Not even a single day has passed by since last year when farmers have easily had hands-on fertilizers. They have to go from pillar to post to secure even a single bag of the commodity. Hoarders have been in the driving seat setting the direction of things and making quick bucks by first creating an artificial shortage and then selling to farmers at exorbitant rates, sometimes selling at a price that is three times the actual price set by the authorities.
During the last Kharif season, Di ammonia phosphate (DAP), a fertilizer critical for the germination of the plant, disappeared from the market, forcing the farmers to secure the commodity at much higher rates from the black market. In the later phase of the same season, it was Urea that became the causality of hoarders.
With the start of the Rabi season, farmers were in the hope that things would get smooth, but to their dismay, they had to confront an even more difficult phase. As the wheat cultivation season has started, DAP has once again vanished in thin air, compelling the farmers to either buy the commodity at a price as high as double the original price of 8000 or take it to sow the staple without fertilizing the field at all. In both scenarios, farmers are at the receiving end as either they have to gouge out extra money on sowing that would ultimately dwindle their profit or compromise on the yield in case of unfertilized sowing.
All the government needs to do at the moment is to rein in the fertilizers’ hoarders and profiteers through effective administration.
Let this phase pass and an even bigger monster lurks in their way. At the time of the first irrigation of wheat crop, the application of Nitrogenous manure is inevitable for optimal plant growth as Nitrogen serves to promote tillering, enables plant growth, and builds protein in the grain. However, when the poor farmers headed to the market to get the Nitrogenous fertilizer Urea, the commodity headed for the hills. Urea is being sold at the rate of 5000 per bag whose actual price is 2850 per bag.
Another factor adding to farmers’ anxiety is the minimum support price (MSP). The support price for wheat has been fixed at 4000 per 40 kg for the year 2023-24. The increase in the support price is marginal when compared to last year when it was 3900 while the input cost of the crop has increased exponentially on the back of depreciation of the currency and the resultant price hike. This discourages the farmers from cultivating the staple.
Another factor that has adversely affected wheat cultivation is the late beginning of sugarcane crushing season which started by the end of November and since the number of farms operating less than 5 acres is very high (3.34 million) in Punjab, the smallholders are compelled to delay the cultivation. As per a study, timely sowing is an important agronomic practice that ensures normal seed germination, stable seedling establishment, and final yield formation for winter wheat. The potential impact on wheat yield due to delayed sowing has been estimated to be a one per cent decline for each day.
Whilst all this is when the hoarding mafia is fleecing the farmers, district administrations have gone into hibernation.
The adverse impacts of this situation are not only devastating for the financial health of the farmers but also these factors in combination have set the stage for a full-fledged wheat crisis in the coming year. Farmers are so discouraged due to skyrocketing rates of inputs and shortage of fertilizers that a majority of them seems convinced to cultivate staple only enough to feed their families and are not thinking of producing more than this scale. Others who are still motivated to sow the crop are doing so without fertilizing the field which is going to adversely impact the yield. If Punjab, which produces 76 per cent of the total wheat of the country, would not be able to meet its production target, there would be a crisis of immense proportion.
But, the government still has time to stop this slide. All it needs to do at the moment is to rein in the fertilizers’ hoarders and profiteers through effective administration and bring to book the elements involved in this unscrupulous activity to ensure the supply of at least Urea fertilizer to the farmers for a better yield. Secondly, there is a dire need for an upward revision of the minimum support price (MSP) to bring the farmers back from bankruptcy. Further, the proposed trace and track system (TTS) for the fertilizer industry should be implemented at the earliest to permanently do away with the malaise of hoarding.
This should serve as a wake-up call to those sitting at the helm of affairs. The small farmer is already on the brink of bankruptcy and if the government continues to remain in its slumber, it would prove the last nail in the coffin of the already moribund agricultural sector of the province and the country will be heading for severe wheat shortage in the year to come.
The writer is based in Chiniot.