Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) for Industries and Production, Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi, has said that the government is working to balance the demand and supply of fertilizers in the country. He said fertilizers are very important for the success of agricultural sector since without them crop yields decrease from their desired levels.He made these remarks when he was given a briefing on the operations of the National Fertilizer Marketing Limited (NFML).

The briefing was given by the Managing Director of NFML, Khalid Saleem, while Senior Manager of NFML, Farooq Jilal; Assistant Manager, Mudasar Aslam and Farhan ullah, were also in attendance. Qureshi asked the NFML to make sure that the needs of farmers are met in time for bumper crop yields. He appreciated the role of NFML in making the Gwadar Port operational by wharfing 150 urea vessels containing 5.3 million metric tons of imported urea. He was told that 300 employees hired on a contractual basis were working in the corporation for the last ten years.

Kalid Saleem also briefed Qureshi on the model of the corporation, its history, achievements, impact and future goals. NFML is a Public Limited Company (unlisted) established in 1976 as a subsidiary of the NFC (National Fertilizer Corporation), under the administrative control of the Ministry of Industries and Production. Six NFC plants produce 2 million metric tons of urea annually and NFML has the responsibility of its entire marketing operation. As of late it has also started to undertake distribution and sales operations. NFML is responsible for the supply of imported urea in areas notified by the government. Price of urea is also set by the government while NFML is to arrange transport, storage and the dealer’s network.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk