The final figure of urea requirement was reached after recent zonal meetings between representatives of states, union territories, fertiliser industry and department of fertiliser, agriculture ministry sources said.

Though urea is the only controlled fertiliser which requires prior assessment, the agriculture ministry has also assessed requirement of other two important inputs, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) as there was perceptible shortage of these items.

While the country would require a total of 31.61 lakh tonnes of DAP, the MOP requirement is projected to be 10.27 lakh tonnes.

According to the agriculture ministry's annual report, the consumption of chemical fertilisers including urea during 1997-98 was 16.88 million tonnes and that of DAP and MOP 53.76 and17.29 lakh tonnes respectively.

While urea consumption of the north zone which includes states like Punjab and Haryana is projected to be 45.37 lakh tonnes, that of the south and west zones have been placed at 22.33 and 31.07 lakh tonnes respectively.

Uttar Pradesh is likely to emerge as the largest consumer of urea with 26.40 lakh tonnes followed by Maharashtra and Punjab with 12.10 and 11.60 lakh tonnes respectively.

The total urea requirement of south zone is projected to be 22.33 lakh tonnes, while that of the west zone has been put at 31.07 lakh tonnes.

East zone which comprises of Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal will require a total of 16.33 lakh tonnes of urea, 3.90 lakh tonnes of DAP and 2.20 lakh tonnes of MOP.

While the south zone is expected to consume about eight lakh tonnes of DAP and 4.5 lakh tonnes of MOP, the west zone is projected to consume over 11 lakh tonnes of DAP and two lakh tonnes of MOP, sources said.

North zone would require 7.80 lakh tonnes of DAP and over 80,000 tonnesof urea in the case of normal weather and sowing conditions, sources said.

Fertiliser requirement of north-east is projected to be in the order of 1.36 lakh tonnes of urea, 30,390 tonnes of DAP and 52,410 tonnes of MOP, they said.

In its assessment of various kharif crops, the National Crop Forecasting Centre (NCFC) in its April report has said momentum in rice and jute sowing in the eastern and north-east were affected due to persisting dry spell.

NCFC has also projected an increase in area under cultivation of sugarcane in the spring season over the last year and expressed satisfaction over the condition of standing crop.