What happened government? DAP crisis in many states of the country, fertilizer is not available as per demand

DAP Crisis: These days the DAP crisis has deepened in many states of the country. Farmers are currently busy sowing wheat and mustard, so if fertilizer is not available in time, the crops may be damaged. Farmers have very limited quantity of cow dung and traditional manure, hence farmers mainly depend on urea and DAP fertilizers. The biggest problem of fertilizer is in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Even in Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, farmers are facing acute shortage of di ammonium phosphate fertilizer.

Despite farmers standing in queues all day, they are not able to get fertiliser. In many places, farmers have to buy fertilizer in black. Actually, the import of fertilizer has decreased this year due to which the crisis has increased. The highest consumption in the country is Urea, followed by DAP. Roughly one hundred lakh tonnes of DAP is required every year.

According to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, 48.70 lakh metric tons of DAP was imported in 2019-2020, which increased to 55.67 lakh metric tons in 2023-24. Domestic production of DAP in the year 2023-24 was only 42.93 lakh metric tonnes.

What did the government say?

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said, “The ongoing Red Sea crisis since January led to reduced DAP imports as fertilizer ships had to travel a longer distance of 6500 kilometers via the Cape of Good Hope.” The Fertilizer Ministry said that the price of DAP had increased by about 7.30 percent from US $ 589 per metric ton in September, 2023 to US $ 632 per metric ton in September, 2024.

There is a fertilizer crisis in these states

This year in Madhya Pradesh, about 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of DAP is required for the Rabi crop till the month of September, but only one third of its requirement may be available. Similarly, 25% less DAP has been available to UP and Maharashtra.

1. This year in Madhya Pradesh, 1,57,000 metric tonnes of DAP was required for the Rabi crop, but the state could get only 69,702.9 metric tonnes of DAP.

2. In UP this year, 1,95,000 metric tonnes of DAP was required in the month of August-September but only 1,35,474 tonnes was received.

3. Maharashtra required 65,000 metric tons of DAP, but got only 15,671.7 metric tons.

4. Chhattisgarh required 10,000 metric tons of DAP, but got only 6,840.1 metric tons.

5. In Karnataka, 41.630 metric tonnes of DAP was required, whereas the availability was only 23,367.96 metric tonnes.

6. In Telangana during September, the availability was only 12,139.7 metric tonnes against the requirement of 20,000 metric tonnes.

7. Only 27,830.61 metric tonnes of DAP reached West Bengal during September 2024 against the requirement of 32,680 metric tonnes.

What did the opposition allege?

In view of the fertilizer crisis across the country, the opposition alleges that the central government has also played politics in the allocation of DAP fertilizer. To ensure that there is no shortage of fertilizers in the electoral states ruled by NDA and BJP, the government has made available the share of fertilizer from other states to the electoral states. Due to this the problem has increased. Recently, leaders like Jairam Ramesh and Dimple Yadav had also made this allegation through social media.

Also read: Farmer brothers can identify real DAP in this way, keep these things in mind while buying fertilizer