Lawmakers draw government's attention, calling for adequate supply of fertiliser to farmers

Kathmandu, May 27: Members of the House of Representatives have urged the government to make timely arrangements to ensure that farmers do not face a shortage of fertiliser during the planting season this year.     

In the meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources under the House of Representatives during the discussion on 'easy and accessible supply of chemical fertiliser, current stock status and distribution system', they stated that, as in previous years, farmers should not face a shortage of fertiliser under any pretext this year and emphasised that the process must be advanced in a timely manner.     

Gyanendra Singh Mahata said that each year the government or relevant bodies should not only highlight the problem of fertiliser shortage but also identify concrete problems and find out their solutions.     

Bashumaya Tamang said that even though Nepal is an agriculture-based country, instead of always relying on foreigners for fertiliser supply, priority should be given to advancing domestic production of organic fertiliser for a long-term solution to the fertiliser shortage.     

Santosh Subba mentioned that questions still arise regarding investment and management in fertilizers, stating there is a need to move towards alternatives to chemical fertilisers.     

KP Khanal said, "There should not be a shortage of fertiliser this year, and it should not be said every year that there is no adequate budget for the procurement of fertilisers. Farmers should not be made to suffer in one or the other pretext. If there is a budget shortfall for the purchase of fertiliser, the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited should inform the relevant Ministry of Agriculture in time and this problem should be resolved promptly."     

Committee members Laxmi Prasad Pokharel, Rajiv Khatri, Poonam Kumari Agrawal, Sujata Tamang, Sagar Dhakal and Prem Bahadur Bayak emphasised that there should be no shortage of fertiliser this year.     

Committee chairman Ashok Kumar Chaudhary instructed the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited to immediately advance the procurement process for essential fertiliser so that farmers can get sufficient fertiliser by the 15th of Ashad, well before the peak paddy planting season.     

AICL's response     

Agricultural Inputs Company Limited (AICL) has stated that it has been unable to provide fertiliser according to farmers' demand because the subsidy budget and annual purchase quantity were not determined according to the demand for fertiliser in the country.     

AICL's Managing Director, Bishnu Prasad Pokharel, informed the committee that the price of chemical fertiliser changes every week in the international market, but due to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2063 and the regulations, 2064, the fertiliser procurement process takes a long time (about 221 days), making timely fertiliser supply difficult.     

The company stated that there is a need to increase warehouse storage capacity to store chemical fertilizers as buffer stock, but there is a lack of budget for warehouse construction, and the company's seed processing factories too are old and dilapidated, making effective seed processing difficult, and there is a lack of budget to establish new factories.     

He stated that the grant budget that the government allocates to the AICL should be increased and the supply quantity of chemical fertiliser should be at least 600,000 metric tonnes.     

Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment, Rajendra Prasad Mishra, expressed the ministry's commitment to ensure that farmers do not face a shortage of fertiliser this year, even if it means using all available options to the best of the Ministry's capacity. (RSS)