Fertilizer shortage clouds Paddy Day celebrations for thousands of the farmers. This is due to bungling government.
Nepalese farmers are celebrating national paddy day on Wednesday with gloomy face. This is because government are not concerned about providing adequate chemical fertilizers for the year’s most important crop. This results fertilizer shortage
Doubts about being able to get the plant nutrients during the crucial season have dampened the mood for tens of thousands of farmers across the country. Therefore, they don’t feel much like rejoicing during the annual festival. And marking the start of the paddy transplanting season, insiders say.
The farmers can’t get chemical fertilizer on time because of government blundering. As a result, they have to face reduced harvests and slashed incomes. Ultimately, this could cause a food shortage and fuel inflation.
The country’s economy is already struggling with a slow growth rate, high inflation and low employment which experts say is a sign of stagflation. The loss in production would add further woes to the ailing economy, economists have warned.
The government is making efforts to procure fertilizer through a government-to-government deal with India. But companies failed to make timely imports mainly due to high costs.
According to officials, fertilizer prices have swelled four to five-fold within a year. And the government would need more than Rs70 billion for subsidies to fulfil the farmers’ demands.
Salt Trading
The government had set aside Rs15 billion to import chemical fertiliser. But at current prices, the money will be barely enough to buy 200,000 tonnes, said an official at the Salt Trading Corporation. It is one of the two state-run supplying agencies.
The government-to-government deal, signed in February. They expected to avoid long hassles to import products. but it seems to have run into one legal hurdle after another.
Chances of early availability of chemical fertilizer seem bleak, said an official at the Agriculture Ministry.
