The AIC had decided to promote the liquid fertilizer in a bid to better manage the supply of chemical fertilizer last year. In order to attain its goal, the state-owned firm procured 42,000 liters of liquid chemical fertilizers from Spain through a private sector importer -All Nepal Tea and Coffee Center- in November.[break]
AIC has been selling Lombrico N (Nitrogen), Lombrico P (Phosphorous), Lombrico K (Potash) and Lombrico-Faliar 986 brand liquid fertilizers produced by Alfredo Inesta of Spain through dealers in Itahari, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj, Nepalgunj and Kathmandu.
"Contrary to our earlier expectation that liquid fertilizer will gain popularity among farmers, we managed to sell hardly 1,200 liters of liquid fertilizers over last six months as demands could not pick up due to low publicity about the benefits of such portable fertilizers," Shashi Raj Tuladhar, managing director of AIC told Republica.
AIC had procured the liquid fertilizers at Rs 419 per liter and was selling at Rs 475 to dealers. The dealers in turn were selling it at Rs 500 per liter to the farmers.
The liquid chemical fertilizer is high in nutrients and requires low transportation cost. It´s easier to distribute among the farmers, AIC claimed.
Meanwhile, AIC has procured 4200 tons of organic fertilizer from private sectors to supply to the farmers under the programs being implemented by the government to promote vermin-compost fertilizers at subsidized price.
The government has allocated Rs 100 million to supply 5000 tons of chemical fertilizers to the farmers during the current fiscal year.
AIC has been procuring vermin-compost fertilizers for Rs 20 per kg from private producers to sell at the subsidized price of Rs 9 per kg to the farmers.
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