Agriculture Inputs Company (AIC) - the state-owned fertilizer distributor - is making final preparations to procure liquid fertilizers for distribution to farmers. “Keeping in view the huge deficit between availability of chemical fertilizers and demand in this peak season, we are soon initiating the trading of liquid chemical fertilizers to ease the supply situation,” Narayan Marasini, supply manager of AIC, told the Republica on Sunday.[break]
Marasini said AIC is procuring 42,000 liters of liquid chemical fertilizers from Spain through a private sector importer All Nepal Tea and Coffee Center. Chemical fertilizers being procured by AIC are Lombrico N (Nitrogen), Lombrico P (Phosphorous), Lombrico K (Potash) and Lombrico-Faliar 986.
“The liquid chemical fertilizer is high in nutrients and requires low transportation cost. It´s easier to distribute among the farmers,” said Marashini. AIC is planning to distribute the liquid fertilizers through its outlets and cooperative offices in different parts of the country.
Price of the liquid fertilizers has not been fixed yet. However, the fertilizers will be procured at Rs 410 per liter and will be made available to farmers at around Rs 510 per liter. “We will fix the price which will be lower than the market price fixed by private suppliers,” said Marasini.
Meanwhile, AIC officials said given the vast difference between supply volume and demand for chemical fertilizers, there is no immediate solution to the perennial shortage of fertilizers in the market.
The current budget has allocated Rs 2.75 billion for chemical fertilizer subsidy which is sufficient to purchase only 115,000 tons of fertilizers, which is far below the annual demand of around 750,000 tons as estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC).
Though farmers have been protesting for last two weeks and demanding a timely supply of chemical fertilizers in the peak agriculture season, AIC has failed to manage the supplies as there has been a sharp rise in the demand for fertilizers this season compared to the same period last year.
AIC distributed 53,000 tons of fertilizers in last four months till mid-November this year, up from 25,800 tons during the same period last year. According to Marasini, AIC has 11,000 tons of urea, 3,000 tons of Di-Ammounium Phosphate (DAP) and 500 tons of potash.
According to A.R. Khair, manager of procurement department of AIC, 10,000 tons of urea is being procured from Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation provided by the Indian government at International Parity Price. Similarly, 30,000 tons of urea and 10,000 tons of DAP will be procured from Indian Potash Ltd and Paradeep Phosphet Ltd respectively.
“We expect the fertilizers to arrive by mid-December,” said Khair. The Ministry of Finance has already issued Rs 550 million on Friday to AIC to pay for the import of fertilizers. Similarly, tenders biding documents have been evaluated for the procurement of 30,000 tons of urea and 20,000 tons of DAP.
Lengthy overseas procurement process, problems in clearing the fertilizers from big ships at the Kolkata port, and a strict ban imposed by the India government against export of locally produced chemical fertilizers have led to a shortage of chemical fertilizers in the country.
“Global suppliers are not interested in supplying chemical fertilizers to Nepal due to difficult transportation involving Kolkata port, the sole port being used by Nepal to import goods from overseas markets,” said Khair.
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