Fertiliser shortage looms large

NEW DELHI: The country witnessed fertiliser supply crunch of over 23 lakh tonnes during the kharif season, even though drought curtailed the demand for the crop nutrients. Kharif crops are sown during June-September, while harvesting begins from October.
The demand for fertiliser was limited as drought in major parts of the country pulled down the area under kharif crops by more than 4%.

Even as huge cultivable areas was left unsown, the demand for fertilisers was estimated at 250 lakh tonnes (lt). But, the availability of all fertilisers including urea, di-ammonium phosphate(DAP) and muriate of potash (Mop) in the entire kharif season was only 227 lt till September 24.

There was a shortage of about 18 lt of urea, a major nutrient for rice crop, with the availability down at 115 lt against the demand of 133 lt till September 24. Similarly, MoP was 4.3 lt short of demand and complex (NPK) by about 10 lt. Only DAP was 11 lt in excess of the requirement of 48 lt.