Amritsar: Shortage of DAP forcing farmers to use costly NPK

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 8

Amid the shortage of DAP (diammonium phosphate) for sowing wheat crop, farmers are being forced to use NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). Though the agriculture experts are advising farmers to use NPK as a substitute, the farmers say that it will increase input cost.

While the government had fixed the price of DAP at Rs1,200 per bag (50 kg), the market price of NPK is Rs1,450 per bag. The farmers in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts are facing acute shortage of the fertiliser (DAP), which is required at the time of sowing of wheat.

A farmer, Gurnam Singh, said: “It is for the first time that we have heard that NPK could be used instead of DAP. It is hard for us to understand that it would do the same work as DAP.” He said the high price of NPK, too, is a trouble as they hope that they would get DAP at the government fixed rate of Rs1,200 per bag. As per the recommendations of Punjab Agriculture University, 55 kg of DAP is required at the time of sowing of wheat. While a few industrious farmers have already started buying NPK so as to sow the crop in time, many are still struggling to procure a bag of DAP.

“Timing of sowing is an important factor in wheat crop. The delayed sowing results in loss of yield. If the sowing of crop got delayed due to shortage of fertiliser, the farmers would have to face losses,” said another farmer Jagtar Singh.