Maharashtra farmers worried over rising fertiliser prices

Agriculture division officers said that the matter falls solely beneath the purview of the Centre.

Farmers in Maharashtra have raised issues over rising costs of fertilisers, and have sought assist from the federal government forward of the upcoming sowing season as costs have elevated by Rs 600-700 per bag, larger by 55% in comparison with the earlier month.

Official on the agriculture division stated costs within the home market have gone up as phosphatic and potassic (P&Ok) fertilisers have develop into dearer within the worldwide market. In keeping with senior business folks, chemical fertilisers are not often produced in India. Many of the uncooked supplies must be imported and solely ready-made fertilisers like DAP are imported. Potash just isn’t accessible in our nation and must be imported from Israel, Jordan and Canada.

The DAP fertilizer of IFFCO is now priced at Rs 1,900 per bag. The earlier value was Rs 1,300 per bag. Equally, the value of NPK 10-26-26 has gone up from Rs 1,100 per bag to Rs 1,500 per bag and costs of NPK 12-32-16 have risen to Rs 1,850 per bag from Rs 1,250 per bag.

Maharashtra agriculture minister Dadaji Bhuse stated the state had written to the Centre to cut back costs. Notably, the Centre just lately stated it was contemplating subsidies to offset rise in world costs of uncooked supplies of P&Ok fertilisers in a bid to make sure their availability to farmers at subsidised charges throughout the nation.

Nationalist Congress Celebration chief Sharad Pawar has written to Union chemical compounds and fertilisers minister DV Sadananda Gowda, demanding a rollback of improve in costs. Farmers are reeling beneath “one of many worst-ever” crises because the coronavirus pandemic has impacted folks’s livelihoods, he stated within the letter. Agriculture division officers said that the matter falls solely beneath the purview of the Centre.

Farmer outfit Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) has taken an aggressive stand towards the Centre’s transfer to hike costs. Raju Shetty, president of the outfit, introduced {that a} protest will likely be registered on Could 20. An electronic mail containing signatures of lakhs of farmers to withdraw the value hike will likely be despatched to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he stated.

Anil Ghanwat, president, Shetkari Sanghatana, stated the rise in costs just isn’t one thing that farmers can afford at current. One has to suppose that it isn’t potential to incur such an additional expense when there isn’t any earnings at hand for a few years.

In the meantime, in a bid to keep away from scarcity of urea within the kharif season, the Maharashtra authorities, for the primary time, will construct a inventory of 1.5 lakh tonne. Bhuse stated the buffer inventory will likely be created in all of the districts within the subsequent 15 days. The minister stated there have been shortages in just a few districts final yr and to keep away from the same scenario, it has been determined to construct inventory of 1.5 lakh tonne of urea this season.