Federal Secretary for National Food Security and Research (NFSR) Omar Hamid Khan has said on Monday, that the disbursement mechanism of fertilizer subsidy should be transparent. He said while having a consultative meeting with provinces on disbursement mechanism of fertilizer sybsidy. The total fertilizer subsidy is Rs.32.5 billion (bn), out of which Rs.28 bn is for Kharif season and Rs.4.5 bn is for Rabi season. Federal Secretary added that NFSR will give qualitative assessment on provinces' disbursement mechanism. He said that this fertilizer will act as an incentive to boost production by reducing costs and at the same time represents the largest element of public expenditure in agriculture. He was of the point of view that restoring soil nutrients with sustainable fertiliser practices is critical to promoting food security.
During meeting Punjab briefed about its scratch card scheme. The codes are printed and pasted inside fertiliser bags. The registered farmer has to purchase the bag, scratch the coupon and send an SMS to the designated number. The system recognises the details and sends a confirmation. Then the registered farmer can go to an agent with the SMS to encash the subsidy money. The system is developed in such a way that every successive transaction, location and usage detail is updated in real-time. While Balochistan mentioned that it will disburse subdidy through fertilizer dealers. On the other hand KPK mentioned that farmers will take subsidy through coupon system. In this regard, KPK will use telefarming. NFSR will analyse all modes of disbursement mechanism and will share its assessment with ECC.
