On 17 October, three railway rakes carrying Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) have been diverted from Mundra, Pipavav and Kandla ports in Gujarat to Kanakpura, a station in Rajasthan for mustard rising areas of Jaipur, Tonk, Ajmer and Sawai Madhopur. had gone. The district had secured permission to maneuver these rakes, the primary two of two,600 tonnes every and the third of 4,000 tonnes, on an “out of turn” foundation – that too on Sunday.
This degree of micro planning and prioritization of the fertilizer motion by the Center is occurring for the primary time in response to unprecedented scarcity circumstances domestically and globally. As Indian Express had reported, All India Stocks of DApp and Muriate of Potash have been lower than half of a 12 months in the past degree as on 30 September, regardless that worldwide costs of fertilizers and inputs have reached their highest degree since 2008-09.
“We were earlier only sending material on the basis of month-wise requirements for the season given to us by the states. (Rabi sowing starts from October.) But now we are ascertaining district wise requirements and sowing of crops. The demand of the area thus assessed is sought to be addressed by placing rakes at those locations,” stated a senior official of the Department of Fertilizers (DoF).
On the bottom this implies mustard and potatoes, that are planted in October, take priority over wheat. Thus, extra rakes are being moved to railheads like Rewari, Khori and Jhajjar within the mustard belt of Rajasthan and Haryana. In Uttar Pradesh too, the allocation at current is especially to Aligarh, Mathura, Agra, Mainpuri, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Kanpur and different rake factors close to potato- and mustard-growing areas of the state.
“The rake for Kanakapura was listed lower in the seniority of the indent. But anticipating huge demand from mustard farmers of eastern Rajasthan, we sought special permission to allow them to jump in the queue,” the official stated. DoF is at present working a “24/7 War Room” in shut coordination with Railway Board, Fertilizer Companies and State Agriculture Departments.
The official claimed that an estimated 18.08 lakh tonnes (LT) of DAP demand this month, largely for mustard and potato, has already been met by means of an preliminary inventory of 15 liters and manufacturing of three liters. In addition, firms have contracted about 6 lakh imports, of which 4.5 liters have reached the import ports, and 1 liter has shifted to consumption centres. Thus, there is no such thing as a “macro” scarcity, though 15 liters of inventory with commerce might not be everywhere the place DApps are urgently wanted.
DoF has estimated the DAP requirement at 17.13 liters in November, 9.48 liters in December, 5.46 liters in January, 4.06 liters in February and 4.47 liters in March, as much as 58.71 liters for the season. Similarly, for advanced fertilizers (combos of nitrogen, phosphorous, potash and sulphur) 12.86 liters in October, 12.26 liters in November, 11.09 liters in December, 9.93 liters in January, 7.86 liters in February, and 6.84 liters in March, complete 60.86 liters.
“We were running an average of 50 rakes per day till October 15, which has since increased to 55 (30 and 25 urea of DAPs/complexes). This will increase to 60 by the end of October. Only then will sowing of wheat start in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, while in UP only after mid-November,” the official stated.
He denied that Punjab was going through DAP scarcity: “They now have 1.2 lakh shares with retailers. Their requirement for potatoes (grown largely in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur) had already been distributed from late September to early October. We have transferred 35 rakes of DAP/advanced (about 1.5 liters) to the state up to now this month and can do 15 extra (45,000 tonnes) throughout the subsequent one week. It’s all for the wheat.”
Farmers apply DAP on the time of sowing containing 46 per cent phosphorus required for root institution and improvement. Urea, probably the most consumed fertilizer with a nitrogen content material of 46 %, is normally given about three weeks after sowing when the crop is within the vegetative and tillage phases.
There are about 2.8 lakh fertilizer sellers in India who’re getting provides from 45-odd vegetation and 21 ports. About 80 % of the fabric is transported by rail at 940 rake factors protecting a median distance of 750 km. Never earlier than has this logistics system been examined – reaching the required quantity of fertilizer on the required area and time – as is at present being carried out. Assembly elections in UP, Punjab and Uttarakhand are barely 4 months away.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
