New Delhi: This year, due to the prevailing geo-political situations such as less export to India by major suppliers and the Red Sea crisis, the DAP supplies were affected, said an official release issued Wednesday (November 27) by the Department of Fertilizers, Government of India (GoI).
This clarification is significant in the backdrop of the scarcity of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) to farmers who have blamed the union and the state governments for this.
India is dependent upon the imported supplies of the DAP to meet the demand of the states. At present, approximately 60% of the DAP availability is met by the imported supplies.
Despite challenges, the Department of Fertilizers, GoI has taken numerous steps to maintain adequate supplies of this crucial farm input to the states. All necessary action is being taken in coordination with the states, railways and fertilizers companies to resolve local availability issues and to ensure expeditious supplies, claimed the release.
Moreover, the domestic production also depends upon import of raw materials. The Red Sea crisis led to diversion of vessels including Phosphoric Acid via Cape of Good Hope thus resulting in longer voyage time and associated supply chain disruptions.
In this Rabi 2024-25 season, in spite of the global factors, quantities exceeding 17 lakh tons of DAP arrived at various ports and were sent to the states in October and November 2024. Almost 6.50 lakh ton of domestic production were further made available to the states, the release further explained.
Therefore, imported and domestic DAP supplied to the states in October and November 2024 so far has become approximately 23 Lakh ton excluding buffer stock available in the states.
In addition, major states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh used NPKS of various grades to the extent of 5 lakh ton more as compared to the last Rabi Season which is a significant development. In the entire country, the states have consumed 10 lakh ton NPKS more than previous Rabi.
Intensive efforts of the GoI resulted in the total availability of 34.81 lakh metric ton (LMT) of DAP and 55.14 LMT of NPKS during the ongoing Rabi season till date.
