Punjab farmers struggle to secure urea supply

The shortage of urea in Punjab has left farmers struggling to secure supplies ahead of the kharif season raising concerns over crop yield.

Harjinder Singh of Saidwan village in Kapurthala is facing difficulty in obtaining urea for his maize crop. “I had never realised that getting a bag of urea would be such an ordeal, when paddy cultivation is still over a month away. Generally, the time after wheat harvesting is for celebrations. This year, the days preceding the harvest were filled with anguish because of the quality of grains. Post-harvest, we are grappling with urea shortage,” he said.

The West Asia conflict has not only squeezed the supply of fertilisers and raw material, it has also led to a sharp hike in prices for the government, though the retail price for the farmers remains unchanged. Sellers are once again offering urea on the black market or as bundled package with pesticides, says a cross-section of farmers.

The urea supply that came to Punjab till mid-March was around 4.8 lakh metric tonne (LMT) and the DAP made available to the state was 31,000 MT. Out of that, the government has supplied 2 LMT urea to the primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS), while IFFCO has supplied 1.50 LMT urea to these societies. The DAP available with these societies is between 12,000 and 15,000 MT.

Darshan Singh Kularan of the Kularan Kalan Cooperative Society, near Samana, said very littler fertiliser was made available to each society and these stocks were depleting fast.

In all, around 16 LMT urea and 2 LMT DAP is required for the upcoming kharif marketing season (paddy season).

A number of farmers had already started hoarding fertilisers. The state Agriculture Department was stunned at the hike in sales during March. It wrote to all chief agriculture officers asking them to ensure judicious use of fertilisers.

Officials admit there might be a shortage if the global geopolitical situation did not improve. They, however, say many farmers have been making excessive use of fertilisers and they will perhaps now follow the expert advice on judicious use of urea.