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DAP ‘shortage’ has Punjab farmers worried ahead of rabi season
Agriculture minister assures farmers of adequate supply of the essential fertiliser ahead of wheat sowing
Ahead of the wheat sowing season, the ‘low availability’ of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), an essential chemical fertiliser for rabi crops, has left the farmers worried. DAP is largely an import-oriented farm product supplied to the states by the central government. This farm nutrient is used during the sowing of wheat, potatoes and mustard. Wheat sowing in Punjab starts after October 15, while in the southwest districts, the sowing starts from the first week of November.
On Wednesday, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) held state-wide protests against spurious fertilisers being sold in the market and the shortage of DAP.
State general secretary of the largest farm union Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said activists staged dharnas at 17 places in 16 districts across Punjab.
“Time to sow wheat is approaching and there is a scarcity of DAP. There are several instances where the farmers are being told that they have to buy liquefied nano DAP with every bag of DAP. We suspect that it lacks required nutrients which could impact the crop yield adversely,” he added.
State agriculture director Jaswant Singh, however, denied a shortage of DAP but he was reluctant to share data on the current stock available with the state.
Official sources said that in 2023, the central government had fixed 1.10 lakh tonne of fertiliser for the state in the month of August, of which 90,876 tonnes was received by Punjab.
For the 2024-25 rabi season, Punjab requires an estimated 5.50 lakh tonnes, including 4.80 lakh tonnes for wheat sowing.
“This year only 18,942 tonnes has been received by Punjab in August, whereas the allocation target for the month was 1.10 lakh tonne,” an official said, pleading anonymity.
As per the official, privy to the situation, on August 13, the state had 40,942 tonnes of DAP in stock. “On August 30, additional chief secretary KAP Sinha met Union minister JP Nadda in Delhi to apprise him of the DAP shortage,” he added.
A progressive farmer Tarsem Singh from Salina village in Moga said that the non-availability of DAP has left the wheat growers worried.
“After harvesting rice in the next few days, we will start readying fields for wheat sowing. We apprehend that low availability of DAP may lead to black marketing. A recent incident in Moga has further panicked the farmers after the the authorities recovered fake fertiliser being sold openly in the market,” he added.
Another wheat grower from Bathinda’s Bajak village Baldev Singh said that the fertiliser is neither available at the cooperative outlets nor in the private stores.
Bathinda chief agriculture officer (CAO) Jagsir Singh said the district needs 42,000 tonnes for the rabi crops, whereas only 9,100 tonnes have been supplied.
“The wheat sowing in Bathinda begins at the end of October, and we expect more arrival in the coming weeks. The district has also been supplied with 1,800 tonnes of DAP substitutes like NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) and other substitute fertilisers,” he added.
Muktsar CAO, the home district of the state agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Gurnam Singh said that against the requirement of 34,000 tonnes for the forthcoming rabi sowing season, a total of 6,150 tonnes has arrived.
“We expect another stock of 3,000 tonnes this week. Farmers should not panic and buy fertilisers only from the approved outlets,” he added.
Khudian said that though he does not have the updated data on DAP stock on hand and added that the central government has assured timely supply and the state is regularly getting supplies.
“Leadership of Ekta Ugrahan and wheat growers should understand that they have more than three weeks to start sowing the winter crops. Earlier, a section of potato growers had expressed doubts but we comfortably managed to meet the demand of 80,000 tonnes for them,” the minister said.
