Fertilizer crunch to ease Wednesday

KATHMANDU, June 24: The worsening shortage of chemical fertilizer just ahead of the main paddy planting season across the country is expected to ease as fertilizer supplies that India pledged as per an agreement between the two countries will start entering Nepal by Wednesday, officials said.



The officials of the state-owned fertilizer distributor Agriculture Inputs Corporation (AIC) said the process of securing certification from the Indian government for the price of diammonium phosphate (DAP) proposed by Indian Potash Ltd (IPL) is expected to be completed by Monday. IPL has been designated by India to supply 30,000 tons of DAP to Nepal.[break]



“IPL has proposed to sell us DAP at Indian rupees 4,000 per quintal. So, we have sought the Indian government’s certification for the price as the fertiliser is being exported to Nepal as per the Indian market price. We are hopeful the DAP consignment will start entering Nepal by Wednesday as the Indian government is expected to issue the price certification on Monday,” Shashi Raj Tuladhar, managing director of AIC, told Republica on Saturday.



Tuladhar also said Mineral and Mine Trading Company (MMTC), a supplier which is selling 12,500 tons of urea to Nepal, was preparing to supply the fertilizer by Wednesday. As per the agreement with the southern neighbor, MMTC will supply the fertilizer at import parity price (IPP).







“Within a couple of weeks we will be able to provide relief to farmers with 42,500 tons of chemical fertilizer from Indian firms to augment the supplies. The total fertiliser demand for the current paddy season is around 100,000 tons,” said Tuladhar.



The process of procuring chemical fertilizers under the bi-lateral agreement to sell the balance of 42,500 tons to Nepal out of the total of 100,000 tons agreed by India for the current fiscal was delayed as MMTC failed to secure renewal of its operating license in time and IPL was tainted by supply of under-weight sacks of fertilizers.



Despite an order from parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to blacklist IPL for the fraud, the government recently decided to procure 30,000 tons of DAP from the Indian supplier, which later agreed to pay compensation for loss due to underweight.



Out of the total of 100,000 tons (60,000 tons urea and 40,000 tons DAP) that India agreed to sell Nepal, 47,500 tons of urea and 10,000 tons of DAP have already been procured.



With delay in fertilizer procurement, hundreds of thousands of farmers across the country are suffering an acute shortage of the vital input. AIC chief Tuladhar said around 2,500 tons of urea is in stock at outlets across the country.

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