Fertiliser restrictions are hitting Rabi sowing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at a critical time, according to a complaint lodged with the provincial governor by Chashma Sugar Mills. The mill has raised the alarm about the non-availability of fertiliser amid restricted supplies, warning that the timing could not be worse for farmers in the middle of the autumn sowing season.
The complaint was made in a letter to KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi from the mill’s Senior Director, Iskander Khan. According to reporting on the letter, the fertiliser industry has imposed curbs under an Interior Ministry statutory regulatory order (SRO) that restricts despatches to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. In practical terms, that means fertiliser that would normally flow to dealers and farmers in those provinces is being held back or limited, creating shortages at the point of sale.
The timing is central to the complaint. Autumn, or Rabi, sowing is under way, and Rabi crops — including wheat, the country’s staple — depend on timely application of fertiliser for healthy growth. If fertiliser is unavailable when farmers need it, yields can suffer, and the effects may not become fully visible until harvest months later. Farmers who miss the sowing window or who apply fertiliser late face lower productivity through no fault of their own, which is why the mill frames the issue as urgent rather than routine.
The restrictions, as reported, were imposed because certain categories of fertiliser can be used in making explosives, and the authorities fear that terrorists could obtain the material from vendors. That security concern is real and longstanding: fertiliser-grade chemicals have been misused in improvised explosive devices in Pakistan and elsewhere, and the state has a duty to prevent diversion to violent groups. The challenge is to control that risk without cutting off legitimate agricultural supply, and the complaint from Chashma Sugar Mills suggests that, in KP at present, the balance has tipped too far toward restriction.
Sugar mills have a direct interest in this question beyond general concern for agriculture. Mills depend on sugarcane growers for their raw material, and cane cultivation also requires fertiliser. A shortage that affects Rabi sowing more broadly can therefore affect the mill’s supply chain as well as food crops. The mill’s decision to write to the governor, rather than only to industry bodies, suggests it wants political attention at the provincial level, where the governor can raise the matter with federal authorities responsible for the SRO.
For farmers in KP, the practical question is whether supplies will reach dealers in time for the remaining sowing period. The brief does not record any response from the Interior Ministry or the fertiliser industry to the mill’s letter, and none is claimed here. Nor does it record whether any exemption or quota system for verified agricultural users is in place. Until such details are published, farmers face uncertainty about when, and in what quantity, fertiliser will be available.
The wider policy dilemma is familiar. Security measures that restrict dual-use materials are necessary, but they impose costs on legitimate users — in this case, millions of farmers. Systems used elsewhere to manage this tension include licensed dealers, record-keeping, tracking of large purchases, and quotas for agricultural use, rather than blanket restrictions on despatches to whole provinces. Whether such a system is feasible or already in place in some form is not detailed in the brief, and this article does not speculate beyond the facts reported.
What is verified is the chain of facts: Chashma Sugar Mills, through Senior Director Iskander Khan, has complained to Governor Faisal Karim Kundi about non-availability of fertiliser amid restricted supplies; the industry curbs stem from an Interior Ministry SRO restricting despatches to KP and Balochistan; the timing coincides with autumn/Rabi sowing; and the stated reason for the restrictions is the fear that certain fertiliser categories, usable in explosives, could reach terrorists via vendors. The next step to watch is any official response that clarifies supply arrangements for the sowing season.
Source: Dawn
