BENGALURU: Even as Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that there is a spurt in demand for urea fertiliser and that this shortage is creating unrest among farmers, Department of Fertilisers (DoF) maintained that it is closely monitoring the situation to ensure the state’s farmers have timely access to urea throughout the Kharif season.
“DoF has ensured timely and adequate availability of 8.73 lakh MT of urea against pro-rata requirement of 6.3 lakh MT to Karnataka during the ongoing Kharif 2025 season so far. During the same period, the state has recorded sales of 7.08 LMT-much higher than the pro-rata requirement,” the Department of Fertilisers stated, responding to Siddaramaiah’s letter to Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilisers Jagat Prakash Nadda.
DoF further added that it continues to closely monitor the situation and coordinate with the State Government to ensure Karnataka’s farmers have timely access to urea throughout the Kharif season.
In his letter to Nadda, CM Siddaramaiah stated that the Union Government has allocated 11,17,000 MT of urea to Karnataka for Kharif 2025, of which the quantity supplied till date is only 5,16,959 MT, whereas the state’s requirement of urea from April to July is 6,80,655 MT. Some of the fertiliser companies have expressed their inability to supply urea fertiliser as per the allocation made by the Government of India, the CM stated.
“There is a spurt in demand for urea fertiliser, and the shortage is creating unrest among farmers. Therefore, I request you to direct the concerned to expedite the supply of the shortfall of 1,65,541 MT of urea, as per the state’s allocation in the interest of the farmers,” the CM stated in his letter to Nadda.
Siddaramaiah further said that Karnataka has received monsoon early this year, and at the same time, area coverage under different crops has increased, compared to previous years. Area under maize, which is a high-fertiliser-consuming crop, has increased by about 2 lakh hectares and area under pulses has decreased compared to previous years, the Chief Minister added.
