Farmers in Maharashtra are facing a major crisis as the state has not received any fertiliser supply after April.
MUMBAI: Farmers in Maharashtra are facing a major crisis as the state has not received any fertiliser supply after April. The prime reason for this is the Centre has reportedly not disbursed the most-sought-after di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) to the state.
And the state government had not made any contingency plans. The state grows pulses and soyabean that require large quantities of phosphate fertilisers.
Against an order of 4.75 lakh tonne of DAP, the state has managed to procure only 2.20 lakh tonne, that too only till April. The requirement for complex (fertiliser) is 9.65 lakh tonne, and barely 1.17 lakh tonne is remaining in the godowns. Against the overall demand of all fertilisers, including urea etc., of 34.26 lakh tonne, only 13.55 lakh tonne is available in the state.
The Centre has said there was an acute shortage of DAP in the international market, hence the need to control supply.
“The government holds the Gurjar agitation and rains in Kandla port responsible for the shortage. But the truth is the government was caught napping. It should have foreseen the demand for DAP in the international market and acted six months earlier,” BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde said.
“The government has been demanding a larger share of DAP, which has not been allotted to us in the last two months. In the absence of super phosphate and inadequate supply of complex fertilisers, the demand for DAP has been rising,” agriculture minister Balasaheb Thorat said. DAP has to be sourced from the US, which takes time, he said.
In fact, the state government has made provisions for transport subsidy to ensure supply and reasonable price for DAP to help the farmers affected by the crisis, but there is none coming its way.
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