Chitwan, Nov 1: Krishi Samagri Company Limited has started selling chemical fertilizers. The sale of DAP and potassium fertilizers has been started across the country from Monday through the local governments.
According to the Krishi Samagri Company, 42,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers have been sold targeting crops such as wheat, mustard, corn, potato, and sugarcane in the first phase.
"Earlier, we stopped the sale because the actual farmers did not get the fertilizers." Rajendra Bahadur Karki, Acting Managing Director of Krishi Samagri Company Limited said. He added, "From today, we have started selling the chemical fertilizers in stock in all seven provinces." He informed Republica that the urea fertilizer will be distributed after a week. According to him, chemical fertilizers are going to be distributed using agricultural land as a basis in a scientific way.
"We have taken the required data of fertilizers from the provincial governments. We have also monitored the land there," he said. "The fertilizers are being distributed according to the arable land. We have sent it to all the local municipalities for fertilizer distribution based on the requirement. He said that although the sale of fertilizers started in six provinces from Monday, it will be started from Tuesday in Madhesh Province as well.
Fertilizers are being sold with 10 percent buffer stock in Bhairahawa, Birgunj and Biratnagar depots. Karki has also requested the local governments to sell and distribute the available fertilizers according to the rules. Since there are irregularities in chemical fertilizers, the company has also fixed the selling price.
Farmers to face fertilizer shortage next year too
The company has purchased urea (50kg) per bag at Rs 5,900 and sold it to the farmers at Rs 750. Similarly, DAP fertilizer per bag is bought at Rs 7800 and sold at Rs 2300. Karki informed Republica that after buying potassium fertilizer for Rs 6,500 per sack, it was provided to the farmers at Rs 1,500 per bag. The government has been bearing the loss.
He said that there will be no shortage of fertilizers this time as chemical fertilizers have started coming through the G2G (government-to-government) process. "It cannot be said that there will be no shortage of fertilizers right now. However, there will not be chaos like before," he said. "Urea fertilizer through a global tender is entering Nepal from tomorrow. A week after that, the DAP fertilizer through G2G arrangement is also coming in. As much as 60,000 metric tons of urea will arrive within a month, he said.
According to the National Planning Commission, Nepal needs 1.3 million metric tons of fertilizers. However, Krishi Samagri Company has said that 7 lakh metric tons of fertilizer will reach Nepal. The Government of Nepal has been importing fertilizers through global tenders and the G2G process.
Earlier, the government had started the procurement process through the G2G process as the fertilizers could not arrive on time. The agreement was signed in July between Krishi Samagri Company and RCF, which is owned by the Indian government. For the first time, all the processes of purchasing 30,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer have been completed. The first batch of fertilizers will enter Nepal within a month. The fertilizers will be used for the wheat and corn season. According to the company, the fertilizer was purchased from India at 768 US dollars per metric ton. The purchased fertilizer will be transported by the Indian company to the warehouses of the Krishi Samagri Company in Biratnagar, Birgunj and Bhairahawa.
According to the agreement made in July, 150,000 metric tons of fertilizer will be brought in the first year, 170,000 metric tons in the second year, and 195,000 metric tons in the third year. Similarly, in the fourth and fifth years, Nepal will purchase 200,000 tons of fertilizers as per the agreement with India. According to Karki, there will be no waste of manure in Nepal as per the agreement.
The Fertilizer Distribution Management Directive 2077 BS has given the right to sell and distribute fertilizer to the local governments. There is a provision to sell the fertilizers under the supervision of the mayor, deputy mayor and chairperson of the municipalities and rural municipalities. Accordingly, Karki has requested that the fertilizers should be sold and distributed in a transparent manner.
