Fertiliser shortage hits paddy crop

Nellore: Shortage of fertilisers has been haunting farmers in the district. There has been shortage of fertilisers in the open market also where 15-20 per cent of stocks are available where around 1 lakh tonnes of fertiliser are to be required. Officials say the situation arose due to closure of a company and they would manage by end of this month.

Still, the district is facing severe shortage of rainfall and majority farmers were cultivating paddy with borewells and other water sources. Now, a deficient rainfall of 51 per cent occurred indicating bleak future of farming activity this year. The normal rainfall from June 1 during southwest monsoon is 441 mm, but it occurred only 215 mm till now.

Consequently, groundwater levels also depleted and current average groundwater level is 11.12 metres. Even though, officials estimated that paddy would be cultivated in  around 5 lakh acres but it confined to 3-4 lakh acres due to severe drought conditions. Officials estimated around 1 lakh to 1.1 lakh tonnes of fertilisers are required for the paddy cultivation during Rabi. But, there are only limited stocks.

The Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited (AP Markfed) is having only stocks of around 3,000-4,000 tonnes of fertilisers out of 10,000 tonnes to be made available during the present Rabi season. So as the situation in case of open market where 10,000-15,000 tonnes of fertilisers are available to meet the demand of 1 lakh tonnes. “Shortage of fertilisers are true, and it was due to closure of a company and consequently farmers are facing difficulty for getting the stocks on time. 

The state government is negotiating with another company and the problem would be solved by end of month,” said an official from the Agriculture Department. Urea contains 46 per cent of nitrogen and the consumption has gradually been increasing due to ignorance. Around 90-120 kg of Urea per hectare is needed for paddy cultivation and majority farmers use more than the specified quantity of nitrogen. Thus, requirement of urea has been increasing constantly, said a retired scientist from an Agriculture College. 

“Even though the state government had declared 45 mandals as drought-hit but it failed to manage fertiliser requirement. The Agriculture Minister and other senior officials should focus on resolving fertiliser shortage,” said farmer K Ramana from Rapur mandal.