Facing acute shortage of DAP, state asks Centre to raise quota

Farmers in Punjab are facing a shortage of diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser, which is immediately required for paddy cultivation.

Against a requirement of 2 lakh metric tonne (LMT) of DAP for the kharif marketing season (KMS) for both paddy and maize crops, the total fertiliser allocated to the state this season so far is just 47,000 metric tonne (MT). While the state was allocated 16,000 MT in April, another 31,000 MT was allocated by the Centre in May.

According to information available with The Tribune, the state had an opening balance of 33,000 MT of DAP, left over from the stock allocated in the just concluded rabi marketing season. In spite of that, there is still a shortage of 1.2 LMT. The Punjab Government, through Chief Secretary KAP Sinha has written demi official letters to the Ministry of Fertilisers, urging them for higher allocation of DAP in the coming month.

DAP is required for application at the time of sowing in case of direct seeding of rice and at the stage of transplanting paddy. The direct sowing of rice has already started in the state and the paddy transplantation will begin from June 1.

Kulwant Singh, a farmer from Nadampur village in Sangrur, said DAP was not available either with primary agriculture cooperative societies or in the open market.

Dr Basant Garg, Administrative Secretary, Agriculture, said the farmers should not panic as they were closely monitoring the situation. “The Centre has allocated us much higher quantities of DAP alternatives, like NPK and MOP. These can be used and it will not have any adverse impact on the crop yield,” he said.

Kulwant Singh, another farmer from Kishangarh village in Mansa, said though the alternatives were available, these were much more expensive than DAP. “A 50-kg bag of DAP costs Rs 1,350, while NPK costs Rs 1,720. We are being forced to shell out more because of the non-availability of DAP,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said, “There is a shortage of DAP across the country, but we are expecting sufficient quantities of DAP to arrive in Punjab shortly.”