“We are not in a position to provide subsidized fertilizer to farmers even for the next paddy season that begins in July as the suppliers have not yet been decided due to a lengthy procurement process,” Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC) told myrepublica.com.
“We need at least three to four months including shipment time to bring subsidized fertilizer from the overseas market,” added Dahal. The maize and paddy seasons are the major seasons when farmers need huge amounts of fertilizer.
Officials said subsidized fertilizers will be distributed only after fertilizers from overseas arrive in the country.
“With the government´s limited network and the meager quantity of fertilizer available in the country, it would be difficult for us to start distributing the fertilizer immediately,” Dahal said.
The procurement process for fertilizers received a serious setback when one of the bidding companies was found to be involved in fraud, prompting the Agriculture Inputs Corporation Ltd (AICL) - a government undertaking - to go for a re-tender.
AICL had issued a re-tender on April 29 with a 15-day deadline for interested global companies to deliver diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer to Nepal.
Dahal further said the price-determination process for subsidized fertilizer has been delayed due to confusion over the role and authority of the relevant committee, which is headed by the secretary at MoAC.
“There are two committees -- price-determination committee and monitoring committee -- mentioned in the guidelines for distribution of fertilizers. But it has not been specified who will head the monitoring committee. So, we have sent a request to the cabinet to make these matters clear,” said Dahal.
Dahal said the price of subsidized fertilizer will be set 25 percent higher than the prevalent prices in India.
AICL has already imported 5,000 tons of urea fertilizer from Brahmaputtra Chemical Fertilizer-- an Indian government´s undertaking. India has pledged to provide 32,500 tons of chemical fertilizer (25,000 tons of urea, 5,000 tons complex and 2,500 tons of potash) for this year.
The government has decided to provide a subsidy to farmers on 100,000 tons of chemical fertilizer for next year. The subsidy on chemical fertilizers comes after a gap of about 10 years.
The government had ended the subsidy in 1997, bowing to mounting pressure from donor communities that alleged massive misuse of subsidized fertilizer.
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