Farmers in Punjab and officials related to the agriculture sector have expressed a serious concern over the proposed suggestion by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MPNG) to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to cut off the supply of domestic natural gas to fertiliser units producing phosphorous and potash. Highly placed sources said if the decision was implemented, the cost of these fertilisers would go up and the farmers would resort to using nitrogen-based fertilisers like urea that would increase soil acidity and in turn, reduce productivity.