Fertiliser crunch to continue next year in Nepal‚ says AIC

KATHMANDU: The country will face an acute shortage of fertilisers next year. The government has not allocated sufficient funds to purchase subsidised chemical fertilisers for the next paddy plantation season. 

 

Agriculture Inputs Company (AIC) does not have funds to buy chemical fertilisers, said managing director of the company Shashiraj Tuladhar. “AIC has bought 130,000 metric tonnes (MT) of chemical fertilisers from the subsidy provided in the special budget,” he said, adding that the budget has provided Rs 283 million in subsidy. However, the government entity has already spent Rs 291 million. 

 

“We will face fertiliser shortage next year, if it is not worked out on time,” he said, “AIC needs Rs 298 million to import 105,000 MT of fertilisers for paddy.” According to Tuladhar, it takes about three to four months to import chemical fertilisers from the international market. However, AIC does not have the money to import such a large consignment, he added. 

 

The government has planned to import about 300,000 MT subsidised chemical fertilisers in fiscal year 2012-13, when the total demand will be about 800,000 MT. Though subsidised chemical fertilisers is just 37.5 per cent of demand, the government is not realising the budget on time. 

 

Meanwhile, AIC has been distributing organic fertilisers to reduce the dependency on chemical fertilisers. “So far, AIC has distributed about 5,000 MT organic fertilisers according to the government plan,” Tuladhar said. 

 

The company has been selling DAP fertilisers at Rs 45,000 per MT and potash at Rs 30,547 per MT across the country. The company has collected Rs 133.78 million compensation from Indian Potash Ltd as the company had supplied less quantity last year. However, we have to distribute it to farmers, he added.