The AP farmers are facing shortage of fertilizers during this year’s Kharif as the Centre resorted to a 10 percent cut in fertilizers supply. The TDP coalition government instead of bringing pressure on the Center seeking adequate supply of fertilizers, has placed the burden on the agriculture department to manage with what it receives without pressuring the center for the cuts.
Due to the chaotic policies of the agriculture department in the process of management, this year’s Kharif farmers faced a shortage of fertilizers from the very beginning. In addition, there was a plight of urea. In some places, problems also arose with DAP and complexes. If the situation was this bad in July and August, what will happen in September and October?, the farmers are worried.
The center has ordered a 10 percent reduction in consumption based on last year’s fertilizer sales and has reduced the allocations to that extent in the current kharif. 6.32 lakh tons of urea were sold in the 2024 kharif. This year, the center has reduced the allocations to 6.22 lakh tons.
It remains to be seen how much supply will be at the end. Over the years, fertilizer consumption has been increasing by five to ten percent every year. Last year, the allocation should have increased by an average of 45 thousand tons on sales.
But the allocations have decreased by 10,000 tons. Unexpectedly, the monsoon entered the state on May 26 this year. The season arrived 25-30 days early. Crops were sown for early rains in Rayalaseema. Fertilizer consumption has increased more than ever where crops were sown early. Due to the price problem for crops, farmers are not planting crops planted one year the next year.
In some parts of Rayalaseema, cotton and rice have been planted instead of chilli. Complex is applied to chilli. Urea is used for cotton and rice. In places where cotton and rice were planted instead of chilli, there was a demand for urea. In some areas, the agriculture department did not recognize these changes in crop patterns at the field level at the right time.
Due to this, there was an acute shortage of urea. As part of the damage mitigation, urea was moved from the joint Krishna and Guntur areas to Rayalaseema, especially to Nandyal, in June. Urea was also moved from the joint Godavari districts. Now, as the season has intensified in Krishna, Guntur and Godavari districts, there is a shortage.
