Urea shortage raises fear of low wheat yield

Perneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 31

Resentment is brewing in the farming community over the shortage of urea in the region even as the farmer organisations are blaming it on hoarding and black marketing by private traders.

The farmers fear that the development may have a negative effect on the yield of wheat crop. Talking to The Tribune, Gurnam Singh, a farmer from Daoke village, said: “We’re facing tough times due to scant supply of urea. We’ve only managed to get a single bag of urea as against the requirement of two to three bags till now.” He said timely sprinkling of urea was crucial and if delayed, it might not have the desired effect. He apprehended that the urea shortage might adversely affect the yield.

He said they had to travel to Amritsar daily to get urea, but have to often return disappointed. “There is so much shortage that if 400 farmers are queued up, only 200 manage to get the fertiliser,” he said.

Pargat Singh, a farmer from Chamba village in Tarn Taran, lamented there had been an acute shortage of urea for the last couple of months that had taken a toll on their crop. Harpal Singh of Munda village alleged the traders were selling urea at inflated prices and forcing farmers to purchase other products along with it.

“The dealers are selling a urea bag, costing Rs 270 each, for Rs 300 and forcing us to purchase pesticide which costs another Rs 300. That way a urea bag costs us Rs 600,” he rued. Some farmers complained that they had to shell out Rs 100 to Rs 200 more per bag.

Farmer leaders Satnam Singh Ajnala and Rattan Singh Randhawa blamed uneven distribution of urea by the government and its subsequent hoarding by private traders for the prevailing crisis. They said the government should not have given urea into private hands and instead taken the services of its agencies like IFFCO and Markfed for facilitating its proper supply.

Ajnala claimed the wheat yield might go down by 5 to 10 per cent. He said the farmers who had sown early varieties were the worst hit as the time had arrived for the third application of urea, but they had not got supply even for the second application.

He said the government must step in immediately to streamline the urea supply to the farmers. Kisan Sangharsh Committee leader Satnam Singh Pannu said there were reports of hoarding and black marketing in Tarn Taran too and the government must curb it with iron hand so that the farmers did not suffer due to urea shortage.

(With inputs from Gurbaxpuri from Tarn Taran)