As Agricultural Inputs Company (AIC) has supplied only 90 tons of fertilizers, which is about 10 percent of the local demand, farmers said they were compelled to rely on subsidized Indian fertilizers supplied illicitly from the other side of the border. [break]
Guru Tharu, member of Akriti Farmers Co-operatives in Khairichandan VDC, said the co-operative has managed to receive just one ton of state-subsidized fertilizer. “Farmers associated with our co-operative need 50 tons of fertilizers. Quantity availed so far makes nothing,” he said.
Officials at District Agricultural Development Office (DADO) said demand for fertilizers in the district presently stands at 2,000 tons a year. The AIC, however, has allocated only 200 tons of subsidized fertilizers for distribution in the district. Of them, only 90 tons of fertilizers have been distributed, said Narahari Pokharel, senior assistant of AIC in Gulariya.
Short supply, meanwhile, has forced the farmers to rely either on sub-standard fertilizers flooding in the market through India or Indian subsidized fertilizer.
As most of the VDCs of Bardiya share border with India, farmers said smugglers are easily bringing in sub-standard as well as subsidized fertilizers from India. The substandard fertilizers are openly sold in Thapuwa of Gulariya Municipality and Rara Taal Bazaar of Sanoshri VDC.
Tharu said that traders are selling a substantial volume of smuggled fertilizers throughout the district and are supplying even to the hilly districts of the region.
Local officials admitted that their attempts to check entry of sub-standard fertilizer has failed, as traders are bringing in thousands of sacks of fertilizers through bordering towns of Maina Pokhari, Sanoshri and Mathuraha, among others.
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