Chhattisgarh is heading for a major shortage of chemical fertilisers during the rabi season that started from October 1.
While most of the village cooperative societies supplying fertilisers to the farmers have no stock, the state government can meet just 17 per cent of the total fertiliser demand for the rabi season.
“The total fertiliser demand for the rabi season is 225,000 tonnes. The state government agencies have 37,996 tonnes of fertilisers left to meet the demand,” sources in the department of agriculture said.
About 1.78 million hectares of land is available for cultivation in the rabi season.
Senior government officials are however hopeful that they would meet the demand, provided the Union government did not curtail the state’s quota.
“The demand is comparatively less during the rabi season and hence, we are hopeful that we can meet the demand,” Managing Director of State Marketing Federation Dinesh Shrivastava said.
For the kharif season, the state has received about 20 per cent less fertilisers from the Centre as against the quota allotted for the state. Sources said that against the demand of about 530,000 tonnes of fertilisers, the Union government allotted about 425,000 tonnes for the kharif season. About 4.5 million hectares of land is cultivated during kharif season in the state.
The state faces a big shortage of single superphosphate (SSP) during the kharif season.
As against the demand of 87,000 tonnes, the state agencies could manage just 44,000 tonnes of SSP.
“If the Union government fails to meet the state government’s requirement, the state will certainly face a major shortage of fertilisers in the rabi season,” the officials added.
