Shortage of urea hits Paonta, Shillai farmers
Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan, December 31
The shortage of urea has severely hit farm operations in Paonta Sahib and Shillai areas of Sirmaur district for over a month.
Urea is chiefly used by wheat growers during sowing, which begins from November 15. The Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing and Consumer’s Federation (HIMFED) is the state’s nodal agency for supplying fertilisers to farmers. Besides, IFFCO has also been authorised to enrol cooperative societies for supplying fertilisers to farmers.
A HIMFED field official, while agreeing to the shortage of urea in the Paonta Sahib area, said the supply was much less than the demand and the stock of societies was nil in December. She informed that the societies generally secured urea from IFFCO and in case they were unable to get the requisite stock, they are provided by HIMFED.
“The supply of urea has been much less than the requirement since the last few months. Against the requirement of about 10,000 to 15,000 bags for Paonta Sahib used last year, barely 6,000 to 7,000 bags were available this year since November 15.”
Grown over 26,700 hectares, the district produces 53,400 metric tonnes of wheat annually. The crop which is sown from November 15 to December 15 is generally harvested in April and May.
Managing Director, HIMFED, KK Sharma said the quota of fertilisers is allocated by the Government of India and the rack amounting to 26,000 metric tonnes has already been exhausted by the state. He said about 10 metric tonnes of urea, which was an additional requirement, would be made available from National Fertilizers Limited tomorrow in the Paonta Sahib area. Other areas battling with the shortage will also be provided urea at the earliest, he assured.
Congress leader Aninder Singh Notty said the shortage of urea has been plaguing the Paonta Sahib and Shillai areas and sowing of wheat was severely hit. It was neither available in time not in adequate quantity, and officials of HIMFED were unable to give any satisfactory response. He alleged that the capacity of urea-producing plants had been reduced by 33 per cent by the Union Government since 2019 which will lead to lesser agrarian produce.
