DAP gap worries farmers again, govt says more rakes on the way
LUCKNOW/KANPUR/AGRA/ PRAYAGRAJ/VARANASI: Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) is said to be facing a DAP (Di-ammonium phosphate) shortage for the second consecutive year with complaints of black marketing and overpricing of the crucial fertilizer even as the government is trying to overcome the shortage by augmenting supply.
Farmers have alleged scenes of long queues outside the fertilizer shops and police dispersing the crowd are as common these days as they were in November last year. Many farmers have complained that unavailability of DAP is delaying sowing in their fields.
Amid such complaints, the state agriculture department has said 24 rakes of the fertilizer were already in transit even as the Centre had sanctioned 40 more rakes for Uttar Pradesh.
“We hope (for) the availability of the DAP to go up as per the demand in next few days as the new rakes arrive here,” joint director, fertilizers, Anil Pathak says. He says these 24 rakes, each containing around 3000 tonnes of fertilizer, had started from the Kandla port in Gujarat and may reach U.P. in the next couples of days.
Pathak claimed there was no DAP shortage as such as 1.84 lakh tonnes were still in the stock.
“The complaints are basically coming from co-operative sector that does not have enough stock to distribute,” he said.
Nevertheless, in Kanpur and Bundelkhand regions, farmers allege DAP is being sold on the black market at Rs 300 more than the official price per bag while the fertilizer hasn’t reached many districts.
The farmers came out on road and protested in Kanpur’s Bilhaur, stating that they did not get the fertilizer and claiming that it was distributed in districts like Fatehpur under police protection.
“The crisis is growing. A bag is being sold for Rs 1600 in the open market,” says Piyush Mishra, former pradhan of Pachor village in Kanpur Dehat.
The DAP fertilizer has not been allegedly available in Unnao’s Asoha for the last two weeks. Bhanu Pratap Singh, a farmer, says cultivators like him have sown their crops without DAP.
Another farmer Ankit Parihar of Unnao’s Bangarmau says DAP is sold at government centres for Rs 1400 per bag, but in the open market the price ranges from Rs 1700 to Rs 1800 per bag. “Some traders are hoarding the fertilizer,” he alleges.
In the potato belt near Kannauj, the crisis is even deeper. Farmers are using urea as a substitute to DAP there.
Shabban Khan, a farmer from Gursahaigunj in Kannauj, says the farmers are depending on super potash in the absence of DAP.
Farmers are being given two bags each in Hamirpur and Fatehpur from the government centres under police protection. Only 379 metric tonnes of fertilizer is available with cooperative societies in these two districts. Moreover, 20 cooperative societies had zero stock in Fatehpur.
District agriculture officer (Fatehpur) Brajesh Singh says the district has received only 19,000 metric tonnes against 35,000 metric tonnes supplied last year.
The authorities in Agra claim that barring some shortage in Mainpuri district, there is no crisis of DAP in the Agra division.
But the Kisan Congress (West UP) has refuted such claims, alleging that farmers sowing the wheat crop are facing a DAP crisis all over Uttar Pradesh.
“The state government should face the reality instead of making false claims and should make DAP available. The Kisan Congress will continue its protest against unavailability of DAP,” Kisan Congress leader Anil Chaudhary says.
In Prayagraj also, the supply of DAP has been less than the demand in the government sector.
In Handia development block, five cooperative societies are sporting locks. Farmers of the area claim that they are sowing wheat by purchasing NPK fertilizer at a high price instead of DAP.
Farmers say 21 days back, supply of DAP came to the Ahiri Sadhan Sahakari Samiti, but that too was exhausted within two days.
Similar reports were received from most of other districts in western U.P. and Rohelkhand region as well.
But joint director (fertilizers) Anil Pathak says, “After agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi met the secretary fertilizer in Delhi, the Centre has sanctioned 40 more rakes for U.P.”
He says that due to availability of favourable moisture in the soil, caused by late rains, even the farmers who would have otherwise started sowing late have gone for an early sowing and this has also created more demand in the state.
In Varanasi, district agriculture officer Sangam Mourya says, “There is no shortage of DAP fertilizer that is easily available across the centres here in Varanasi.”
Mourya further said that the fertilizer is being sold as per the price mentioned on its bag.
The farmers in Varanasi too stated that there was no such shortage in the region.
FARMERS ALLEGE DAP IS BEING SOLD IN THE BLACK MARKET AT ₹300 MORE THAN THE OFFICIAL PRICE PER BAG.