LAHORE   -   Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif Tuesday vowed to safeguard farmers’ interests saying that their exploitation will never be tolerated.“We will ensure supply of fertilizer to the farmers of Punjab at any cost,” said the chief minister while chairing a special meeting on the availability and need of fertilizer in the province.Madam chief minister directed the relevant authorities to ensure effective measures to prevent hoarding and illegal transportation of fertilisers. Maryam Nawaz warned that failure to prevent fertilizer hoarding and smuggling will not be tolerated at all. She also emphasised on the need to adopt foolproof procedures to ensure availability of fertilizers to the farmers. The CM directed to take steps for the effective digital monitoring of fertilizer supply from plant to dealer. She also decided in principle to establish a special helpline for registration in the Kisan Card Programme. Earlier, it was briefed by the authorities concerned that demand and production of urea fertilizer in Punjab is about 65 lakh tonnes. About 70 per cent of the country’s production of urea fertilizer is used for rabi and kharif crops in Punjab. In the meeting, satisfaction was expressed over the trend of reduction in fertilizer rates. Recommendations for amendments to the laws regarding pesticide and fertilizer were also considered in the meeting. Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Information & Culture Minister Azma Zahid Bukhari, Agriculture Minister Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain, MPA Sania Ashiq and Special Assistant Rashid Nasrullah attended the meeting. Chief Secretary, Secretaries Finance, Agriculture, Industry, Principal Secretary to the CM and other relevant officers were also present.