Delayed fertiliser import affects Morang farmers

By Hari Prasad Koirala,Urlabari, Apr. 19: Farmers in Morang have been forced to use substandard Indian urea fertilisers as the chemical fertilisers imported by the government through a tender did not reach Nepal in time, even from the Kolkata Port.

The contractors have already delayed importing fertilisers by a month, which prompted the farmers to use substandard urea smuggled to Nepal from India.

According to Naresh Sapkota, Chief of Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, Biratnagar office, chemical fertilisers being imported through tender has just started to arrive in Kolkata Port.

According to him, the entire quantity of fertilisers imported by AICL will arrive in Kolkata Port by Saturday, and it will take another 15 days to bring that to Nepal and distribute to the farmers by completing all the procedures.  

According to Sapkota, 25,000 tonnes of fertilisers are about to arrive in Nepal. Of that 6,500 tonnes of fertilisers will be distributed in the Koshi Province.

According to Radheshyam Chaudhary, Chief of the Biratnagar Office of Salt Trading Company Limited, the fertilisers being imported by the STC have already arrived in Nepal. 

Chaudhary said that 11,000 sacks of urea will be stored in the warehouse of STC by Friday evening. 

He said that it would take another five days to complete all the procedures and give it to the dealers for distributing to the farmers. 

"It will take another 10 days for the farmer to receive it. However, the urea distributed by STC is not enough for the farmers," he said.

Meanwhile, as the fertiliser does not arrive in Nepal on time and the crop has already grown, farmers are using the Indian urea by purchasing it at the rate of Rs. 1,400 per 50-kg sack. 

A farmer of Kanepokhari Rural Municipality-7, Morang, Sitaram Gelal, said," The cost of urea being distributed by the AICL and STC costs Rs. 940 per 50 kg bag. But the Indian urea fertiliser costs Rs. 1,500 for the same quantity." Both AICL and STC provide urea at a subsidised rate. 

He said that around 3 kgs of Nepali urea is enough for crops per Kattha while they need to use at least 6 kg of Indian urea for the same area, as Indian urea is of substandard quality. 

Over the past decade, farmers have been cultivating more paddy and maize than wheat in southern Morang. Due to this, the demand for urea has increased dramatically.