With sowing of mustard underway and that of wheat to pick up after Diwali, a nationwide shortage of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) has led to panic among farmers in Haryana, with police stepping in to handle crowds during the distribution of the key fertiliser. DAP is required at the early stage of root establishment and development, and farmers apply it along with the seeds. At Gohana in Haryana’s Sonipat district and Narnaul in Mahendragarh, DAP bags were sold in the presence of police personnel. In Uchana in Jind on October 26, a farmer receivedminor injuries as police tried to control an unruly crowd that had gathered at the local cooperative society office to buy the fertiliser. At Tosham police station in Bhiwani district, staffers of a cooperative society took over the process, handing over slips to farmers that they could exchange for DAP bags. On Sunday, hundreds of farmers, many of them women, stood in long queues outside the Tosham police station, waiting for the slips. Dayanand Poonia, a farmer activist from Bhiwani, told The Indian Express that farmers from around 12 villages received information on Sunday morning that 1,500 DAP bags had arrived at the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society in Pataudi village. The farmers were told to collect their slips from the Tosham police station, 23 km away. Sher Singh, 70, from Rodan village, was among those who collected his slip from the police station. “I had gone to the cooperative office in Pataudi on Saturday, but there were so many people I decided to return the following morning. The next day, I reached Pataudi at 6 am, but again, the crowds were unmanageable. Finally, we were asked to come to the Tosham police station. We were pushed around there too, but I finally got my slip.” Agriculture Department Sub Divisional Officer (Bhiwani) Sanjay Kumar said, “There were more farmers than DAP bags at Pataudi. First, we called the police there but they could not control the crowd. We thought a scuffle may break out, so we decided to issue slips from the police station.” Farmers typically need one 50-kg bag of DAP for every acre of mustard and wheat sown, with this going up to three bags in the case of potato. Mustard and potato planting usually happens in October, with wheat following in November. The current shortage of DAP is being blamed on higher global prices, aggravated by the government fixing a low MRP with inadequate subsidy concession that has made imports unviable. At the current MRP of Rs 1,350 per bag (Rs 27,000 per tonne) and subsidy of Rs 21,911, the gross realisation for companies comes to Rs 48,911 per tonne. On the other hand, the landed price of DAP imports is now at $642-644 per tonne or Rs 53,930-54,100. Adding import duty, bagging, port handling, interest and dealer margins, the cost goes up to about Rs 65,000 per tonne. The resultant loss-making proposition has meant that only 19.67 lakh tonnes of the fertiliser got imported during April-September 2024, compared to 34.53 lakh tonnes in April-September 2023. Admitting to shortage of DAP, Rajbir Singh, Deputy Director, Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, said, “For example, Hisar district has received a supply of only 8,000 MT DAP fertiliser so far against the demand of 25,000 MT. We are expecting a supply of more DAP bags in the coming days.” Poonia said that while it's farmers in the mustard growing districts of Haryana who are desperate for DAP, the shortage is likely to worsen once the wheat sowing season starts from Diwali. “Sowing for mustard is on in Dadri, Narnaul, Bhiwani, Rewari and Hisar and farmers here are not getting enough DAP. If the supply of DAP is not increased, the crisis will worsen because after November 15, farmers in wheat growing areas would also join the queue for the fertiliser,” added Poonia. Admitting to the acute shortage of DAP, a senior BJP leader who spoke on condition of anonymity said farmers in the state must get adequate allocation of DAP and the movement and stocks of the fertiliser need to be checked to ensure uninterrupted supply.
