Hotspot for horticulture Himachal Pradesh is experiencing a chemical fertiliser shortage at a time when the state’s 200,000 apple orchards require them.
HIMFED has distributed only 22,598 tonnes of chemical fertilisers to the state’s farmers so far, with only a month left in the current fiscal year. HIMFED distributed 74,604 tonnes of food last year.
Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers’ Federation Ltd is abbreviated as HIMFED. It is Himachal Pradesh’s apex cooperative marketing federation.
According to SP Bhardwaj, a horticulture expert, apple plants require nutrients before work on the next crop can begin after the harvest. It is now appropriate to provide nutrients to apple plants through fertilisers.
Apple trees that do not receive fertiliser at the appropriate time will have less flowering, less production, and lower quality apples.
“As a result, the government should provide fertilisers to farmers at the appropriate time so that they can avoid losses,” Bhardwaj said.
According to Sanjay Chauhan, convener of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, the government has failed to provide farmers with fertilisers on time.
After snowfall in the months of January and February, farmers must put fertilisers in their orchards on priority. “But the fertilisers required today are not being made available by the government and the prices of fertilisers in the open market have increased drastically as compared to last year,” he said.
It is now time to put potash 12:32:16 and NPK 15:15:15. But these are not available. Farmers are being forced to buy fertilisers not approved by agriculture and horticulture universities from the open market.
This will reduce the production and productivity of apples in the future, which will further deepen the crisis of horticulture. The state’s economy will be badly affected by the wastage of apples.
Apart from this, the Kisan Sabha has also protested the steep rise in the prices of fertilisers. The Sabha alleged that a 25 kilogram bag of calcium nitrate, which was available last year for Rs 1,100-1,250, is now available for Rs 1,300-1,750.
A 50 kilogram bag of potash, which was available for Rs 1,150 last year, is now priced at Rs 1,750. NPK 12:32:16, which was priced at Rs 1,200 last year, is now priced at Rs 1,750.
Despite this, neither potash nor NPK 12:32:16 are available.
Some 42,884 tonnes of urea was sold last year according to HIMFED. This year, only 29,052 tonnes has been sold.
Prashant Sehata, a farmer from Shimla, said fertilisres, especially potash, was not available even though it was needed. This had increased concerns of farmers.
According to Om Prakash Sharma, a farmer from Chamba, this year’s snowfall has been adequate, and the apple plants’ need for a ‘chilling hour’ has been met. “This year’s crop is expected to be good.” “However, the scarcity of fertilisers has made us fearful of losses,” he explained.
According to Ganesh Dutt, chairman of HIMFED, fertiliser manufacturing companies are having difficulty producing fertilisers due to a lack of raw materials from abroad. As a result, Himachal was experiencing a fertiliser shortage.
“Efforts have been made by talking to the Centre to increase the supply of fertilisers in the state,” Dutt said.