Shortage of Urea hits tea growers

GUWAHATI: The tea industry in Assam is facing a shortage of fertilisers, especially urea, which is abetting blackmarketing in the state. Tea planters will move Union commerce and fertiliser ministries demanding their intervention into the matter.

All Assam Small Tea Growers' Association general secretary Karuna Mahanta told ET: "We have given several memoranda to government but the urea shortage is still persisting. Two units of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation (BVFCL) have crossed their technical life span by almost 35 and 25 years respectively.

In 2006, the then Union minister for fertiliser Ram Vilas Paswan had announced the setting up of an ammonia-urea brownfield plant. But the project is yet to take off." He added, "If the crisis persists, tea production will come down." BVFCL is a major urea supplier in the region. Its overall production has plummeted from 3,09,575 tonne in 2009-10 to 2,85,143 tonne in 2010-11. This year, since April, total production is at 72,736 tonne.