Farmers resort to panic buying

Farmers across the state are resorting to panic buying of fertilisers and pesticides to beat the impact of GST as their prices will increase significantly with the rollout of the new tax regime from July 1.

The GST Council has placed fertilisers in the tax slab of 12 per cent, while it was just 6 per cent in the existing VAT regime. The increase in pesticide prices will be even higher with GST tax slab fixed at 18 per cent.

With farmers lining up in front of shops to buy fertilisers at the existing rates, stocks have been exhausted within no time. Fertiliser shops have stopped sales citing no stocks.

The shortage of stocks at the start of kharif season itself has become a cause of concern for farmers.

At present, a 50-kg urea bag costs `298, which will go up to `315 due to GST, a hike of `17. A bag of DAP fertiliser, which costs `1,086 at present, will cost `76 more, that is `1,149.

As per official statistics, farmers in the state use 8 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of urea in kharif and 5.5 lakh MT in rabi.

Similary, 2.5 lakh MT each of DAP fertiliser is used in kharif and rabi seasons.

The government has asked shops to sell fertilisers at old rates till existing stocks last or till June 30. Due to the huge rush, stocks are getting exhausted in Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Medak, Nizamabad and Adilabad districts.

Agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy reviwed the situation and asked officials to create awareness among farmers not to panic over increased rates.

He said that farmers will face this problem only this year. “From next year, the government will give `8,000 per acre to all farmers, which can be used to purchase fertilisers. I request farmers not to resort to panic buying and stock fertilisers,” Mr Reddy said.

He said the government had procured adequate stocks to meet the demand for kharif and rabi seasons for this year.