Wheat crop sown quot;without using fertilisersquot;

BATHINDA, Nov 20: The failure of the cotton crop this season notwithstanding, prospects of the next crop do not seem favourable as a number ...

BATHINDA, Nov 20: The failure of the cotton crop this season notwithstanding, prospects of the next crop do not seem favourable as a number of farmers in the south-western belt of Punjab have sown their wheat crop without using fertilisers.

A visit to Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts revealed that the wheat crop, the main rabbi crop of the region, has been sown on thousands of acres without the use of DAP or other fertilisers.

While some farmers said they were not in a position to purchase the required quota of fertilisers, others said they were not able to get it in time owing to the shortage of DAP in rural co-operative societies.

About half the area in Mandi Khurd, Harkishanpura, Gaihri, Nandgarh Katra and Jandhuke Bathinda, Bir khurd and Mohan Singhwala Mansa and Ena Khera, Ratta Khera and Kriwala Muktsar has been sown either without fertilisers or with a negligible quantity of fertilisers, other than DAP.

Farmers in these villages told ENS that after moving from pillar to post for several days, they could not get the required quota of DAP and hence, they had to do the sowing without adding fertilisers.

Sadhu Singh, Bara Singh and Jaswinder Singh of Mandi Khurd and Gurjant Singh of Harkishanpura said they had not even tried to get the fertiliser following the resource crunch. Almost 90 per cent of the cotton crop in these villages had been destroyed.

Many farmers have used a mixture of nitrogen and superphosphate as an alternative to DAP. According to G.S. Dhaliwal, associate director of PAU, the mixture is as good as DAP but costs more.

Story continues below this ad

A survey revealed that the quantum of mixture used by farmers was significantly low. For example, most farmers used 50 kg of superphosphate and 50 kg urea per acre against the recommended per-acre use of 150 kg superphosphate and 50 kg urea or 55 kg DAP. Dhaliwal said the under-utilisation of fertilisers at the time of sowing would certainly affect the growth of plants.

Markfed, the sole agency supplying fertilisers through co-operative societies, had till yesterday distributed 13,000 metric tonne of DAP against 8,528 MT last year in Bathinda district, but even this was insufficient as the traders, suppliers of about half the quantity of fertilisers, had opted out of selling DAP during the season.

Moreover, the authorities supplied the fertiliser to this region on the past year8217;s trend of late sowing, ignoring the fact that farmers in large numbers had ploughed their standing cotton crop because of non-fruiting.

Significantly, the farmers still waiting for DAP would have to suffer in another way as the per-acre yield would be affected due to late sowing.