Punjab and Haryana called the wheat bowls of the country are apprehending a shortage of urea which is urgently required by its farmers for sowing of wheat crop.
Punjab needs about 12.5 lakh metric tonnes of urea. However, the state has by far received only about 6.0 lakh metric tonne urea. Punjab, which is a major contributor to the national pool sows, wheat on an area of about 3.5 million hectares.
Talking to FE here on Friday, deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal said,?Punjab has taken up with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the urgent need to ensure that additional railway rakes are available for evacuation of imported urea from the Mundra and Kandla ports?. He said Punjab?s fertiliser stocks were running low at a time when the farmers needed the urea most. Punjab agriculture department has also brought the issue to the Union fertilisers ministry?s notice.
Haryana has also asked the Centre for an additional 50,000 tonne of urea. There are reports that farmers in Haryana too are facing a shortage of urea and in some cases are being forced to buy urea by paying a premium. The shortage was more prominent in Hissar, Bhiwani, Kaithal and Karnal districts. Bharatiya Kisan Union leaders say that farmers at some places were forced to pay premium on urea bags.
Enquires from the agriculture departments of Punjab and Haryana revealed that ?urea demand in the country as a whole is likely to go up to 287.55 lakh tonnes in 2011-12 as against 266.47 lakh tonne in 2009-10?.
Badal said movement of urea to the state had been slow due to non-availability of railway rakes. Urea is to be administered as a second dose to wheat crop at this stage. First irrigation of the crop is scheduled to take place in the last week of December and the second dose of urea in the first week of January.
He said ?most of the 6 lakh mt urea received by the state so far has been used as a basal dose at the time of sowing. State?s urea requirement was pegged at 12.5 lakh mt the ongoing rabi season, out of which just around 6 lakh mt has been received so far. Punjab needs another 6.5 lakh mt urea to be used as a second dose to the wheat crop which is life line not only for Punjab but for the entire nation and for food security mission?.
Expressing concern over an ?impending shortage of urea?, Badal said shortage at this stage would not only affect tilling and vegetative growth of wheat crop, but might also lead to panic buying among farmers.