Sarlahi facing shortage of fertilizers as rice plantation season begins

Kathmandu - Although the paddy plantation season has begun, the district is facing a shortage of fertilizers. Farmers have started preparing nurseries for seedlings, but lack of fertilizers has made the matter worse, said local people. "Nurseries have not been good this year as there was no fertilizer while preparing nurseries," said a farmer.

They would go to bordering Indian market to purchase fertilizers when they lacked in Nepal. But, they were not able to reach Indian market to purchase fertilizers due to lockdown, said the farmers, complaining that some traders have been running black marketing of fertilizers.

There is acute shortage of fertilizers in the district due to COVID-19, said Bajra Mani Lama, chief of the Agriculture Materials Corporation Limited, Sarlahi. It requires 1,500 metric tonnes of diammonium phosphate and 2,000 metric tonnes of urea for rice plantation in the district, he said. Now, the Corporation has stocked approximately 150 metric tonnes of DAP and two truck full urea, he said. Generally, DAP is required to prepare nurseries to produce seedlings. So its demand is high now, he said. Urea is required after planting rice seedlings.