With goods trains suspended in Punjab due to farmers’ agitation, Sangrur is facing an 80% shortage in urea supply amid the wheat sowing season.
The district cultivates wheat crop on 2.9 lakh hectares, which require about 1.1lakh metric tonne (MT) urea, but currently, only 25,000 MT is in stock.
Agriculture department officials say that they are trying to arrange more urea but they have a sufficient supply of diammonium phosphate (DAP), which is another important fertiliser.
Sangrur chief agriculture officer Jaswinder Pal Singh Grewal said that farmers initially need DAP, but after 21 days of wheat sowing, the crop demands urea.
“We have sufficient stock for the first dose of urea. However, if goods trains are not started soon, we will face a shortage of fertiliser as we need 30% urea by November-end, 30% in mid-December and 15% in January,” said Grewal.
“The government will arrange urea for farmers. However, some farmers are also purchasing it from Haryana,” he added.
On Monday, a few farmers from the district met agriculture department officials, seeking adequate supply of urea. The farmers alleged that the central government is targeting Punjab due to its opposition to farm laws.
“If the Modi government is taking anti-farmer decisions, the state government should come forward to provide urea by road. It is the responsibility of the Congress government to address farmers’ concerns,” said Gobinder Singh, Sangrur block chief of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan).
{{/usCountry}}“If the Modi government is taking anti-farmer decisions, the state government should come forward to provide urea by road. It is the responsibility of the Congress government to address farmers’ concerns,” said Gobinder Singh, Sangrur block chief of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan).
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