Farmers across Bihar are worried and angry about the acute shortage of chemical fertiliser and its black marketing at double the rate during the ongoing rabi season. This is likely to hit the rabi crop output, they say.
Farmers in Bihar faced fertilisers shortage during the kharif season last year too, due to less supply from the central government.
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Thousands of farmers in the state’s flood-prone northern districts as well as drought-prone southern districts are struggling for urea, according to reports.
These include Khagaria, Katihar, Saharsa,Madhepura, Supaul, Purnea and Araria districts of the Koshi-Seemanchal region as well as Rohtas, Darbhanga, Buxar and Patna districts.
The shortage for urea, a fertiliser essential for rabi crops, mainly wheat and maize, is due to its unavailability at the officially designated fertiliser dealer shops in neighbourhoods across the state.
Hundreds of farmers have expressed their anger against the shortage and staged protests in different blocks of the state.
Balmiki Sharma, a farmer of Paliganj block in Patna district, said fertiliser was totally missing at dealer shops. “The cry for fertiliser is on every lip,” he told this reporter.
Sharma, the secretary of Paliganj Bitarni Krishak Samiti, a farmers’ organisation working in 50 villages, told DTE February 21, 2022 that the government had failed to arrange fertiliser and ensure its delivery to farmers.
“Dealers have been informing farmers that they don’t have a single bag of urea. But it is being sold on the black market. The government promises to help farmers to increase their income are just on paper,” he said.
“We have been going through a fertiliser crisis during the rabi season and the government is doing nothing. Farmers are helpless. Our rabi crops will be affected due to a lack of urea,” Anjani Yadav, a marginal farmer of Parbatta in Khagaria, said.
Yadav said he badly need urea for his maize and wheat but it was not available at dealers’ shops. Maize is a cash crop for farmers of the Koshi-Seemanchal region, which is a hub for ‘yellow gold’ as maize is popularly known locally.
Another farmer, Balkrishna Patel of Katihar, said the input cost of maize cultivation had gone up this rabi season as farmers had been forced to purchase fertiliser at higher prices from the black market.
“Dealers are refusing fertiliser to farmers, citing short supply but urea is available on the open market at higher prices. All this is going on thanks to the powerful nexus of traders and government officials,” Patel, who is a member of Kisan Adhikar Morcha, said.
A 45 kilogram urea bag is being sold at Rs 450-500 although the government rate is Rs 266, according to farmers.
Patel said the sowing of rabi crops had been delayed due to the shortage of diammonium phosphate (DAP). Large number of farmers had failed to sow on time without DAP.
Sharma said the shortage of fertiliser will reduce wheat crop output by 20-30 per cent in Paliganj. The rabi sowing season usually is between November 15 and December 15.
Bihar required other fertilisers in the following quantities during the rabi season 2021-22, according to the state agriculture department’s assessment:
Bihar agriculture minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amrendra Pratap Singh has repeatedly denied the shortage of urea. He has claimed that the government has acted against black marketing of fertilisers and has taken action against dealers as well as officials.