An acute shortage of fertiliser ahead of the sowing of potato and rabi crops has hit farmers in Bengal and the state government is holding the Centre responsible for the situation
“We had submitted a demand for four lakh tons of NPK 10:26:26, which is the most preferred fertiliser of farmers in the state, for the rabi and boro (winter) seasons. But the Centre allotted only about 1.25 lakh tons. Hence, the farmers are in trouble just before the sowing of potato and other rabi crops,” said Pradip Majumdar, Bengal panchayat minister and agriculture adviser to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Sources in Nabanna said the Union government had gradually reduced the allotment of NPK 10:26:26 in the past few years as the Centre gives handsome subsidies on this particular fertiliser.
“The Centre is reducing the allotment and is making the alternatives of NPK 10:26:26 available. But the problem is that the alternatives are costly as the Centre does not subsidise them. The farmers of Bengal are very cost-sensitive and don’t want to use alternative fertilisers,” said a
senior bureaucrat.
The Centre fixes the allotment of subsidised fertilisers to different states based on several factors like the area of cultivation and the
requirement.
“Almost all states are facing the problem as they are not getting subsidised fertilisers like NPK 10:26:26 according to their requirements. This is only because the Centre is cutting its expenditure on the subsidies for fertilisers,”
said a source.
A fertiliser dealer at Singur in Hooghly district explained why the farmers in Bengal preferred NPK 10:26:26 to alternatives that were available in the market.
A 50kg bag of NPK 10:26:26 costs ₹1,470 while alternatives like NPK 14:28:14 or NPK 16:16:16 are sold at ₹1,740 per a 50kg bag.
“As a farmer is required to use four bags of fertiliser to grow crops on each bigha, he/she would have to spend ₹5,880 on NPK 10:26:26. The expenditure would go up to ₹6,960 for a bigha if he uses any alternative of NPK 10:26:26. If a farmer has to bear an additional expenditure of nearly ₹1,100 for a bigha, why would he use the alternative?” asked the dealer adding that he had enough stock of alternative fertilisers but there was no demand.
Sources in the agriculture department said the crisis deepened to an extent that a large number of farmers could not sow potatoes yet though the sowing season was nearing an end.
“The problem is so critical that many of the farmers told officials in Hooghly and East Burdwan — major potato-producing districts — that they would not cultivate their plots if they weren’t supplied with NPK 10:26:26,” said an official.
The prices of fertilisers remain a sensitive issue in rural Bengal and no ruling party would like to face the wrath of the farmers, particularly when the Assembly polls were approaching nearer.
“It is hard to make the farmers believe that the Union government did not allot enough fertiliser. The farmers already started complaining that they were not getting NPK 10:26:26 because of hoarding by a section of dealers,” said a source adding that the chief secretary had written to the Centre with an appeal to send additional NPK 10:26:26 to get rid of the crisis.