Bihar writes to Centre for fertilizer stocks for rabi season

Officials said that the department, after an assessment of different types of fertilizer, has put its requirement of urea at 12 lakh metric tonners, DAP(Di-ammonium phosphate) at 4 lakh metric tonnes, MOP (muriate of phosphate) at 1.5 lakh tonnes, 2 lakh metric tonnes of complex (mixture of nitrogenous, phosphatic and potash) and 1.25 lakh metric tonnes of SSP (single super phosphate).

Taking a lesson from the shortage of urea during the kharif season, Bihar’s agriculture department has written to the Centre to ensure timely arrival of fertilizer stocks for the upcoming rabi season that begins from November, official said.

Kharif season begins in June and ends in October. (Representational image)

Kharif season begins in June and ends in October.

Officials said that the department, after an assessment of different types of fertilizer, has put its requirement of urea at 12 lakh metric tonners, DAP(Di-ammonium phosphate) at 4 lakh metric tonnes, MOP (muriate of phosphate) at 1.5 lakh tonnes, 2 lakh metric tonnes of complex (mixture of nitrogenous, phosphatic and potash) and 1.25 lakh metric tonnes of SSP (single super phosphate).

Secretary (agriculture) N Saravana Kumar said the review of requirement of fertilizer this time was being done minutely with regular updates from the field so that there is no shortage as such of any variety of fertilizer during the upcoming rabi season. “We had faced some difficulty in availability of fertilizer during the kharif season but it was resolved immediately,” said Kumar.

A month back, there was shortage of fertilizer, especially urea, leading to protests by farmers at different places during the kharif season. There were reports of farmers purchasing urea at double the standard price. Opposition parties had alleged the crisis of urea was an “artificial” one created by retailers in connivance with officials.

Foodgrain production

The state’s total food production this year has been 169 lakh metric tonnes, higher than last year’s 163 MTs.

As per the fourth estimate of foodgrains production, considered to be the final assessment of total production of rice, wheat and maize and other crops in a particular year, the state produced 63 lakh metric tonnes of wheat this year while rice production stood at 68 lakh metric tonnes,

In 2019-20, the foodgrains production stood at 163 lakh metric tonnes, of which rice was 69 lakh metric tonnes while wheat was 55 lakh metric tonnes.

Secretary (agriculture) N Saravana Kumar said the overall the foodgrains production this year has been good, especially wheat, despite some crop damages during the rabi season.