urea shortages in india : again

Short supply of urea thwarts Rabi farming in Tangail
Monday, October 29, 2007 05:24 AM GMT+06:00



Farmers waiting in a long queue for fertiliser in front of a dealer's shop in Basail upazila in Tangail. The photo was taken on Wednesday. Photo: STAR

Short supply of urea fertiliser is affecting cultivation of Rabi crops in most areas of Tangail district, farmers alleged.

In many areas, farmers are returning home disappointed after waiting in long queues in front of dealers' shops for fertiliser.

This correspondent visited different areas of Tangail Sadar, Mirzapur and Basail upazilas in last two days.

At Basail uazila headquarters, several hundred farmers were seen queuing in front of a dealer's shops on Wednesday.

Farmer Dukhiram Mondol, 55, of Joutuki village said he stood in the line at 3am for four sacks of urea. But he did not get any fartiliser as about 150 people who were ahead of him emptied the stock.

Hossain Miah said he came from Kanchanpur Dakkhin Para village, about 10 from the upazila headquarters but did not get any urea.

Upazila agriculture officials in Basail said they planned to bring 6,100 hectares under mustard cultivation this year. Last year, mustard was grown on 4,040 hectares against a target of 3,100 hectares, they said.

Farmers are more interested for mustard cultivation this year as this is a short time crop and benefits them if the yield is average. Farmers now need urea, dye ammonium phosphate (DAP) and single super phosphate (SSP) fertilisers for mustard and vegetables, they said.

They can buy DAP and SSP from local markets, albeit at higher prices. But urea supply is controlled by the government, they said.

Nurul Islam, acting upazila agriculture officer in Basail, said they had 363 metric tones of urea in stock till Wednesday.

"The problem has been created as farmers want to buy more than what they need now fearing crisis”, he said.

Basail Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Khalid Ahmed, however, told The Daily Star that there was no reason for concern as there was adequate supply of urea.

Mohammad Hakim Uddin, deputy director (DD) of Agriculture Extension Department (AED) in Tangail, said 500 tonnes of urea were allocated for Basail for October and 700 tonnes for November. This allocation should be enough to meet the demand, he said.

He said we sought 7,000 tonnes for Tangail district for October and got it. For November, we sought 8,5000 tonnes and the allotment has been made.

He said most of the farmers want to buy more than what they need now fearing short supply in coming days.

"We are observing the situation," the DD added.

When contacted, Tangail Deputy Commissioner Akhter Ali Sarkar said there is no urea crisis in the district.

Fertiliser distribution management was good in the district last year and there will not be any problem this year also, he said.

"We will send urea to farmers timely," the DC assured.