Indian Wheat Farmers Warn Of Lower Production On Fertiliser Shortage
Indian wheat farmers are protesting against what they see as "profiteering" and "hoarding" of urea by fertiliser dealers.
The government set the factory rate at which urea can be sold at Rs625 and dealers’ commission per bag is Rs10, taking the consumer price to Rs635, but there is no urea available at this price farmers say.
If you want urea, you must pay Rs1,000/bag, which is beyond the purchasing power of poor farmers, said Hazoor Bakhsh, a progressive farmer from Kot Sultan, Layyah. Wheat sowing is at its peak but neither seed nor urea was available in the market, as profiteers had stocked the commodities for black-marketing, he added.
Farmers’ representatives say dealers are fleecing the poor farmers without any check. They say on the one hand the government spent millions of rupees to mobilise farmers to grow more wheat, but on the other it is not taking any step to check black marketing and shortage of fertilisers.
They say the urea shortage will affect this seasons wheat crop and government efforts to avoid a wheat shortage in the coming season will all be in vain.
India produced 78.4mmt of wheat in 2008, and official government estimates are that it will produce a similar amount, possibly slightly more in 2009 when it begins harvesting it's crop in March.
The government set the factory rate at which urea can be sold at Rs625 and dealers’ commission per bag is Rs10, taking the consumer price to Rs635, but there is no urea available at this price farmers say.
If you want urea, you must pay Rs1,000/bag, which is beyond the purchasing power of poor farmers, said Hazoor Bakhsh, a progressive farmer from Kot Sultan, Layyah. Wheat sowing is at its peak but neither seed nor urea was available in the market, as profiteers had stocked the commodities for black-marketing, he added.
Farmers’ representatives say dealers are fleecing the poor farmers without any check. They say on the one hand the government spent millions of rupees to mobilise farmers to grow more wheat, but on the other it is not taking any step to check black marketing and shortage of fertilisers.
They say the urea shortage will affect this seasons wheat crop and government efforts to avoid a wheat shortage in the coming season will all be in vain.
India produced 78.4mmt of wheat in 2008, and official government estimates are that it will produce a similar amount, possibly slightly more in 2009 when it begins harvesting it's crop in March.