The Centre on Friday said there is adequate availability of key fertilisers, including urea and DAP, in the country for the ongoing rabi season and rejected reports of shortage in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. It released all-India level data related to supply and sales to claim everything was fine.

“There have been some media reports claiming shortage of fertilizers in Trichy and in Rajasthan. Such reports are beyond the facts,” the Fertiliser Ministry said in a statement.

Adequate stocks

According to the ministry, pro rata requirement of urea up to November 16 was 57.40 lakh tonnes (lt), against which the government has ensured availability of 92.54 lt. The sales of urea have been reported at 38.43 lt, it said. In case of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP), the ministry said the pro rata requirement up to November 16 was 26.98 lt, against which 36.90 lt were made available.

As reported by businessline, farmer leader Rampal Jat had said that Rajasthan received 4.65 lt of urea until November 13, against the demand of 9 lt during October-November and similarly DAP availability was 2.15 lt against a requirement of 3.20 lt.

The Centre is sending fertilizers as per need to all States, and it is the responsibility of respective State governments to ensure availability through proper intra-district and inter-district distribution, it added.

The ministry also said that the pro rata requirement of Muriate of Potash (MoP) up to November 16 was 5.28 lt against which it has ensured availability of 8.04 lt, whereas sales were to the tune of 3.01 lt. In case of complex (NPKS) fertilisers, the requirement was 20.12 lt up to November 16 and the availability was more than double at 40.76 lt.

The Agriculture Ministry’s weekly update on rabi sowing pointed out that some districts in Punjab have faced shortages of DAP for the wheat crop while the fertiliser supplies in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are normal. There are no updates on inputs availability in other States.

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