Ajay Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 23
While private dealers in Jalandhar say they have run out of DAP stock, cooperative societies are left with just 4,610 MT of the fertiliser.
Samsher Singh, a Makkowal-based farmer, says he has been trying to arrange DAP for over a week now, but to no avail. “I need at least eight sacks of DAP for my 9-acre fields. The fertiliser is nowhere to be found. I even went to Balachaur and Nawanshahr,” he said.
Has same salt as DAP
- Officials say NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) has same salt as DAP
- Cooperative societies say the Centre has hiked the rate of NPK and the new stock will cost Rs1,450 per bag
- Till now, it was being sold at Rs1,180 per bag (cheaper than a 50 kg DAP bag of Rs1,200)
Admitting the shortage, Jagjit Singh, Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies, said: “So far, Jalandhar has received 10,486 MT DAP against the demand for 11,457 MT. In the past over a month, around 5,870 MT has been sold and the remaining stock will be sold completely in a few days.”
Good response
After converting the DAP demand into NPK, we have so far sold around 2,855 MT NPK against the intended 1,823 MT supply. —Jagjit Singh, Deputy registrar, Cooperative societies
He said farmers who used to purchase the fertiliser from private dealers were also turning towards cooperative societies this time. “Hoarding in August is also to be blamed for shortage,” he said.
Having exhausted the entire stock, Shiv Lal Jamsher, district president, Government Cooperative Societies Union, said: “Against the demand for 105 MT, my society received only 35 MT, which we sold in the first week of this month. We have been constantly raising concern over the disparity in the distribution of DAP among private dealers and government societies, but to no avail. We even staged a protest at the Jalandhar railway station against the urea shortage in cooperative societies and manufacturers distributing more fertilisers among private dealers, but nothing happened.”
He alleged that private dealers first stored DAP and then amid shortage sold it for Rs 1,500 per bag.
Now, the agricultural department has appealed to farmers to buy NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), which has the same salt as the DAP. However, the cooperative societies said the Centre had increased the rate of NPK and the new stock would cost Rs 1,450 per bag. Till now, it was being sold at Rs 1,180 per bag (cheaper than a 50 kg DAP of Rs 1,200).
Sukkha Singh, Deputy Registrar, Kapurthala Cooperative Societies, said the district witnessed DAP shortage while sowing potato, but now they were coping with it.
Use NPK instead, says Agri Dept
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