Alleging that the supplies of urea were about half of the requirement and those of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) were less than 70 per cent in the current rabi season in Rajasthan, a farmer organisation has warned that mustard and chana crops would be adversely affected if the issue of fertiliser shortage is not addressed.

Against the demand of 9 lakh tonnes (lt) of urea during October-November, only 4.65 lt have been received in the State till November 13, said Rampal Jat, President of Jaipur-based Kisan Mahapanchayat. Similarly, against 3.20 lt of DAP requirement, only 2.15 lt have been received, he said.

Fertiliser crisis

“Due to the government’s lack of foresight and insensitivity, farmers are not only facing the fertiliser crisis, but have to leave their household chores and stand in queues for long hours to buy them,” Jat said in a statement.

Rajasthan alone produces 48 per cent of the total mustard produced in the country and it is also the second-biggest producer of chana, after Madhya Pradesh, he said. This year, due to the rains in September-October, kharif crops in many places got damaged and which were removed from the field and sown with mustard earlier than normal. After germination of mustard, urea was required along with irrigation to control the insects, he said.

Piling up demand

“In fact the demand for December should have been fulfilled in the month of November, but it is unfortunate that neither October demand got fulfilled, nor November,” he said adding the State has not been able to voice the concerns to the Centre. Stressing that adequate and timely availability of fertiliser is a matter related to production of the country, he said unless it is addressed on priority, there may be drop in yield and will offset benefits of any increase in acreage.

He also pointed out that mustard sowing was adversely affected due to non-availability of DAP, which is normally applied during field preparation before sowing.

State government data shows that mustard acreage reached 77 per cent of this year’s targeted 38.3 lakh hectare (lh) until November 2, whereas wheat has been covered in 10 per cent of the 31.8 lh target and chana in 49 per cent of 22 lh target. Area under all these three crops were higher from year-ago levels.