.........PARADIP: The irony is difficult to miss. Farmers of Jagatsinghpur district, rich in fertiliser production, are dealing with the problem of scarcity.


Taking advantage of the wide gap between allocation and availability, unscrupulous traders have hiked the price much to the chagrin of the farmers. This despite the fact that the two factories, Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) and Paradeep Phosphate Ltd (PPL) in Paradip, have successfully achieved the production targets. It is their failure to provide fertiliser as per allocation that has resulted in scarcity in the local market.

Official sources said while the Union Government has fixed the allocation of urea fertiliser at 2,430 metric tonnes (MT) till last August for IFFCO, only 1,471 MT have been supplied to this district. On the other hand, PPL was required to supply 1220 MT of fertiliser by August, but only 220 MT has reached the district.

Farmer leader Pramoda Swain alleged that irregularities in the supply of fertilisers have lead to its acute shortage in local market.

With authorities doing little on the discrepancies, the farmers are forced to buy fertiliser from the black market. According to Swain, for a bag of urea (50 kg) priced at ` 276 and potash at Rs 231, the farmers have to shell out ` 300. The current situation is forcing poor farmers to use less amount of fertiliser for their crops resulting in lower yield.

Admitting to the shortage, in-charge District Agriculture Officer Nilamani Dash said with factories providing nearly half of the allocated amount every year, the problem has compounded over the years. A squad has been pressed into service to check black marketing, he added.

Factory authorities blame it on lack of infrastructure in the district to stock fertilisers. We are instead supplying it directly to the farmers as per their requirement, said PPL General Manager (P&A) PK Panda. He said that PPL plans to supply fertilisers to farmers as per the allocation to boost crop yield.