ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF FERTILIZERS FOR
RABI SEASON
The supply of Urea
and DAP during the ensuring Rabi season will be comfortable to
meet the demands throughout the country. The Inter-Ministerial
Committee constituted in the Department of Fertilizers at its
meeting held recently reviewed the demand supply situations of
fertilizers viz. Urea and DAP for the peak demand of current Rabi
season. The Committee noted with satisfaction the significant
increase in consumption of fertilizers during Kharif compared
to last year. The sales of urea and DAP have been 93.1 lakh MT
and 22.1 lakh MT respectively, a growth rate of 4% in urea and
a decline of about 4% in DAP sales compared to last year.
Though the procurement
and marketing of DAP and other forms of complex fertilizers is
totally decontrolled, the Committee closely monitored the projections
given by the manufacturers regarding the availability of stocks
of urea and DAP with reference to demand. The overall assessment
was that the supply situation would be comfortable throughout
the country. The overall availability of urea and DAP during Rabi
is expected to be 113 lakh MT and 42 lakh MT against the assessed
requirement of 105 lakh MT of urea and 39.5 lakh MT of DAP for
the Rabi season. The sales in last year during Rabi were 97 lakh
MT of urea and 31.4 lakh MT of DAP.
The Inter-Ministerial
body expressed satisfaction over the availability of fertilizer
at the national level. However, it was felt that the status needed
to be monitored on a weekly basis and a close watch on movement
and distribution of urea and DAP to various States would be necessary
to ensure that there are no pocket of shortages during the peak
season. It was noted that the demand of DAP in States of Haryana,
Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have picked
up significantly for basal dressing of Rabi crops. These States
approximately consume 2/3rd of national consumption
of DAP. The Committee also decided to constitute an inspecting
team of 6 senior officials from Department of Fertilizers and
Department of Agriculture & Cooperation to visit various sensitive
districts for ensuring supplies of urea and DAP. The officials
are expected to make spot assessment and take immediate measures
to augment supplies whenever and wherever required. The inspecting
team has already visited Gwalior and made field enquiries regarding
availability of DAP. The situation was reported satisfactory.
Similar visits to other places during this month have been planned.
A Control Room has
also been set up under the charge of Director (Movement), Department
of Fertilizers, Shastri Bhawan, New Dealhi, Tel. No.23381828 (Off)/
23346557 (Res) to monitor the movement, dispatches and arrivals
of stocks in different parts of the country. These measures are
being specially undertaken as marketing of fertilizers is mostly
decontrolled and only 50% of manufactured quantity in case of
urea is now under the distribution control of Department of Fertilizers.
The manufacturers are now free to supply all types of fertilizers
according to the demand in various parts of the country.
Minister for Chemicals
& Fertilizers, Shri S.S. Dhindsa, who has been personally
reviewing the demand and supply situation of fertilizers, has
directed for frequent reviews at the official level.
