TIRUCHY: Kuruvai farmers and traders in the Tiruchy district are fazed by an alleged shortage of urea in private fertiliser shops. The traders here, seeking intervention by the state government, attributed the shortage to a lack of supply in the past 15 days.
C Chinnadurai, president of the district agro-input traders association, told TNIE, "We are faced with acute urea shortage. Societies are far less in numbers compared to us. Almost in every village, there is a fertilizers shop and we are the direct contact to the farmers when it comes to fertiliser supply. Many branded companies have not sent urea to us yet.
The state government should intervene and ensure we get the supply required." L Arokiyasamy, a private fertiliser dealer based out of Lalgudi, said, "Companies are not supplying urea in the required quantity. There has been no supply in the past 15 days. This is the first time I'm coming across such a situation in over 50 years. We are yet to get the urea imported from other countries.
Urea is essential in the cultivation of sugarcane, cotton, banana and paddy." Veerasegaran N of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh said, "In cooperative societies, fertilisers would be given to farmers who have taken loans from them. In private shops, all farmers can buy fertilisers. In the wake of the reduced water supply from Mettur, many farmers have used bore water for irrigation.
When such farmers approach private fertilizer shops, they are told that there is a shortage of urea." A trader, seeking anonymity, said, "Unlike other fertilisers, the price of urea has remained unchanged for long. Hence, we have been forced to sell other products along with urea. It has become a huge burden.
The price of DAP, Pottash and the such increased manifold in the past three years; the price of urea, however, remained the same." When contacted, a district-level official of the agriculture department, said, "Urea is available in sufficient quantity in the co-operative societies. The shortage in private shops is due to the absence of rain affecting the supply. We will look into the issue."