UP agri minister flags ‘less than 25% of fertiliser allotment in October’

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Agriculture Ministers of Punjab, Odisha, Gujarat, and Arunachal Pradesh were present on the dais. “Our cropped area is about 135-140 lakh hectares for which we require a lot of chemical fertilisers… Right now, it is a priority. It is needed. I had spoken to the Fertiliser Secretary two days ago. Mananiya Nadda-ji (BJP national president J P Nadda) se baat nahin ho payi thi (Could not speak to Nadda-ji),” Shahi said, urging Chouhan to intervene in the matter. “They can reduce 1 lakh tonne from our allocation of DAP and NPK for the month of October and provide the remaining… Our stock of DAP is half of what we had in October last year. Every day, the sale of DAP/NPK is around 42,000-43,000 tonnes. If this pace continues, our stock will last only 10 days. In such a situation we will have a problem in maintaining the supply to sale points. This will have an impact on our Rabi campaign. Therefore, I want to request you [Chouhan] that if efforts are made in this direction, it will be good,” Shahi said. When Chouhan addressed the gathering, he said whatever “feedback” has come from the states is true. “Fertilisers should be available. The Fertilizer Secretary is also sitting here, whatever problems have been raised here, he must have taken note of them… We should have some concern…,” Chouhan said.

Highlighting the steps taken by the government to ensure availability of fertilisers, Chouhan said the Centre provided a fertiliser subsidy of `1.94 lakh crore last year and this year, a provision of `1.68 lakh crore has been made in the Union Budget. In addition to this, a package was also given, he said. Chouhan said import of fertilisers was delayed by 18 days due to a longer route taken in wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “Sometimes, delays happen due to factors beyond our control,” he said, adding that states too need to ensure proper distribution of fertilisers so that it reaches the intended beneficiary farmers.

Chouhan said, “We need to move towards organic and natural farming to increase productivity and reduce dependency on chemicals and fertilisers.”

He further said a committee has been constituted to reduce the cost of transportation to reduce the gap between procurement price and sale price. The national target of food grain production in 2024-25 will be 341.55 million tonnes, Chouhan said.