Fertilizer shortage for Chaite Paddy: Relief to farmers from buffer stock

Generally, these institutes have stored the accumulated amount of fertilizer to provide it throughout the year in case of emergency and government bodies like Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Seed Breeding Program when needed. It is customary to set aside 10 percent of the total amount of manure that is regularly brought in and keep the accumulated balance.

But this time, as the demand of Chaite paddy crop season could not be met even with regular fertilizers, after the instructions of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives of Madhesh Province, both institutes mobilized the accumulated fertilizer.

According to Durga Prasad Pandey, head of Birganj regional office, the provincial office has 1,700 tons of DAP and 2,400 tons of urea fertilizer and is mobilizing this amount of fertilizer in the 16 districts under it. He said that fertilizers are being mobilized based on the quota received by the respective districts.

"Based on the recommendations made by the Agricultural Knowledge Center in each district, fertilizers are being mobilized in those districts," he said, "in Parsa alone, 250 tons of urea and the same amount of DAP fertilizers are being mobilized."

Since then, Corporation Madhesh Provincial Office Birganj has 917 metric tons of urea and 700 metric tons of DAP fertilizer in stock, information officer of the office Sanjay Sah informed that fertilizer is being mobilized in 8 districts under the same balance.

"We are mobilizing the accumulated amount of fertilizers according to the instructions of the federal and provincial ministries," he said, "The instructions for mobilizing fertilizers have come from the ministries for the production of chaite rice."