THE sowing of Rabi crop has started amid urea shortage particularly in lower Sindh where growers have incurred huge losses in the Kharif season due to heavy monsoon rains.Sowing is taking place only in patches of land in those areas where water has receded or has been drained out.
The government has not yet decided to import urea though it admits a shortage of 1.2 million tons of the stuff for this crop season in the country.
The market is also witnessing a steep rise in urea prices which have gone up to Rs1,600 from Rs840 per bag within a year. It is even being sold at Rs1,800 per bag of 50kg in some areas.
In the just concluded Kharif season, cotton and rice growers on the left bank of the Indus River had suffered huge crop losses.Growers in most of the areas are unable to go for early wheat sowing, as their lands are still submerged under rainwater.Under the prevailing conditions, the growers think that the ECC’s decision to defer urea import is not prudent.
“When the government itself claims shortage of 1.2 million tons of urea, it does not seem wise on the part of the government to stop import of the required quantity right now, argues Mehmood Nawaz Shah, general secretary, Sindh Abadgar Board. He is worried that urea’s usage would be at its peak next month and no one knows when the government would act. “It takes time to import fertiliser and the process should have been started much earlier. We need urea both in November and December ” he says.
Prices of both phosphate and nitrogen fertilisers are increasing over the years, he says. “We are hit by the unregulated price and supply mechanism every season. Factories increase prices arbitrarily, he says.
Sindh Abadgar Board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani also questions the government’s decision-making process. “The government has deferred import of urea which is almost non existent in the market. “We are concerned about its extreme shortage in the market and its availability at an exorbitant price of Rs1,850 per bag,” he adds. He says that early Rabi sowing has started in areas where water has receded.
Fertiliser dealers admit that urea’s prices are not regulated which increase frequently. They also complain of not getting the consignment from factories even after making full payments. Dealers like Aziz Arain complain that often the buyers have to pay the difference in price unilaterally raised by factories despite full payment in advance. “Nowhere in the world does it happen that after the deal and final payment, the difference is claimed,” he says.
President Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) Dr Nadeem Qamar points out that on the one hand the government subsidises gas for urea companies and on the other, GST is levied on purchase of urea by farmers. He says price of urea has been increased almost by 100 per cent within a year.
The government has withdrawn subsidy on fertiliser which the growers see as a step against agricultural productivity. General Sales Tax has already been levied on all agricultural inputs, the growers say and demand their immediate withdrawal.
Urea is used in initial stage of crop sowing. Multiple doses are needed for better per acre yield. Three bags of 50 kg each of urea per acre, at all costs, is recommended by wheat experts like Mohammad Khan of Agriculture Research Institute. Around one and a half or two bags of DAP is also needed for the crop. Some growers also use other chemicals depending on their affordability to improve crop productivity.