12,500 tonnes of urea to arrive by Thursday

KATHMANDU, JUN 24 -

In what could be a respite for farmers reeling under severe fertiliser shortage amid plantation season, the government has said 12,500 tonnes of urea will enter the country by Thursday.

According to the Agriculture Input Company (AIC), a total of 42,500 tonnes of fertiliser is being imported from India to ease the shortage. “An additional 30,000 tonnes of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) should arrive by next week,” said AIC Managing Director Shashi Raj Tuladhar at a programme here on Saturday. AIC is the government agency authorised to import/distribute fertilisers in the country.

According to Tuladhar, the first lot of urea will be distributed to hilly districts. “The government is also planning to address fertiliser shortage in Tarai where plantation will start in three weeks time,” said Tuladhar.

AIC has also decided to distribute around 180 tonnes of fertiliser under coupon system directly from its office in Kuleshwor, Kathmandu, from June 25. As of Friday, around 2,500 farmers have received such coupons. Over 2,500 farmers had picketed the AIC office on Tuesday demanding fertiliser.

According to Tuladhar, AIC will switch back to the old channel of fertiliser distribution once it receives the fresh batch of imports. Generally, AIC distributes fertilisers through cooperatives and its local agencies.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Development, 700,000 tonnes of chemical fertiliser is required to meet the country’s demand. However, the government subsidy fulfils just 20-25 percent of the demand.

With the government failing to timely supply fertiliser, farmers have been forced to buy fertilisers in the black market where a sack of urea costs Rs 2,500-2,800, whereas the government-set price is Rs 1,022.

Former Agriculture Minister Chhabi Lal Bishwakarma underscored the need for making a separate deal with India so as to make the import process hassle-free like that of petroleum products. “There must be a high-level approach from Nepal for ending this recurrent crisis,” said Bishwakarma.

The crisis is a result of the government’s inability to import fertilisers in time due to prolonged uncertainty over potential suppliers. First, the process of procuring 30,000 tonnes of DAP from India was stalled for several months after the dissolved parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) issued a directive on March 16 asking the government to blacklist Indian Potash Ltd (IPL), which was found to have supplied short-weighted fertiliser packets.

The government had also placed an order for 12,500 tonnes of urea with Mineral and Mine Trading Company (MMTC) and made payment. But the company could not dispatch the order on time as its operating licence had not been renewed by the Indian government.

The government then requested the Indian government for 30,000 tonnes of DAP through MMTC, but, according to Agriculture Ministry sources, the Indian Embassy has asked the government to buy fertilisers from IPL.

Meanwhile, Tuladhar has said the Finance Ministry has assured more funds to AIC for fertiliser imports for the next fiscal year. “Hopefully, we will not have to face a similar shortage from next year,” he said.

The government is planning to double subsidy on fertilisers for the next fiscal year. The Ministry of Agriculture and Development is holding discussions to increase fertiliser subsidy to Rs 5 billion for the next fiscal year from the current Rs 2.83 billion.