Fertiliser Shortage Looms Large In MP, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav Holds Emergency Meeting

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Fertiliser shortage in the state may deepen in the Kharif season. The scarcity of DAP and the rise in prices of NPK may spark resentment among farmers.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav held an emergency meeting with the officials on Friday to deal with the situation. At the meeting, the government decided to distribute the fertilizers, which are lying in stock, among farmers, so that they might get manure at old rates.

The farmers should be informed that there is a shortage of DAP. Whether the farmers should be given urea or TSP also figured in the meeting. The state has a stock of 3.5 lakh tones of DAP and NPK, but it requires 7.5 lakh tones of fertiliser.

According to sources, because China has stopped supplying DAP, India is getting DAP only from Morocco.

As the government has not increased rates, the companies had stopped production of DAP. The government promoted NPK during the Rabi season. As there was a shortage of DAP and rise in the demand for NPK, the manufacturers increased prices from Rs 1, 470 to Rs 1, 720 for each bag containing 50-kg fertiliser.

The Central Government, which gives a huge amount of subsidy on fertiliser, has fixed subsidies on urea, NPK and DAP. The farmers will bear the brunt of a hike in the cost of NPK, which may lead to resentment among them.

Shortage of supply from centre

This month, the Government of India has to allot one lakh tones of DAP and one and half lakh tones of NPK to the state this month. But the Centre has yet to allot DAP. It has supplied only 25,000 tonnes of NPK to the state.