Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, DV Sadananda Gowda has said that urea sales is witnessing surge this Kharif season almost everywhere in the country.
He said, Government of India is taking every effort to strengthen supply from domestic units as well as from imports, when required. The cycle of import has been shortened to augment the supply in line with the peak in demand this season.
Gowda was speaking to Agriculture Minister of Karnataka BC Patil who met him in New Delhi Thursday regarding availability of urea in Karnataka.
Gowda said, due to persistent efforts of the Central government and continued support from respective state governments, urea stock is comfortable across the country.
As far as state of Karnataka is concerned, the requirement projected for the entire Kharif 2020 season is 8.50 lakh metric tonne. Correspondingly, the requirement from April 1 to August 26, 2020 was 6.46 lakh MT. However, against this demand, Department of Fertilizers has ensured an availability of 10.24 lakh MT, including the opening stock of 3.16 lakh MT. During this period, the sales of urea have been 8.26 LMT as compared with the sales of urea of 5.20 lakh MT during the corresponding period last year.
Despite this unprecedented high demand for urea this season, the availability has remained comfortable in the state.
Gowda appreciated steps taken by the Government of Karnataka against hoarders and black marketeers.
He assured that supply of urea would be augmented in coming days, as per the requirement. Department of Fertilisers is closely monitoring the availability situation, and steps have been taken by the department to ensure that urea would be made available in time to farmers in Karnataka.
Patil thanked Gowda and officers of the department for timely supply of fertilisers to the state. He, however said, the supply of urea needs to be scaled up in the state. The state is seeing a significant increase in net sown area by nearly 11.17 lakh hectares which is 20 percent more than previous five-year average. This has resulted in surge in urea demand and sales in the state.
He requested for Central government’s support in augmenting availability of urea in Karnataka.
