DistantNews
Support us
🇳🇵 Nepal /Economy & Trade

Fertiliser shortage leaves farmers scrambling amid tighter border checks

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • Nepalese farmers face a severe chemical fertilizer shortage, impacting the crucial rice transplanting season.
  • Farmers are resorting to buying fertilizer in India, but tighter border checks have led to arrests for smuggling.
  • The government's promises of adequate supply have gone unfulfilled, raising fears of reduced crop yields.

Farmers in Nepal are struggling to secure essential chemical fertilizers, jeopardizing the vital rice transplanting season. The scarcity has forced many to travel across the border to India to purchase urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP).

However, this cross-border effort has become increasingly risky. Two brothers, Nagendra Prasad Singh and Suresh Prasad Singh, were arrested in India for allegedly smuggling fertilizer. They were attempting to bring two sacks of urea and six sacks of DAP back to their 1.69-hectare farm in Sarlahi.

Officials had called us, saying they could be released on bail on Thursday. But we were told the hearing would only take place the day after tomorrow.

— Aditya SinghSon of arrested farmer, explaining the delay in his relatives' hearing.

This year's fertilizer crisis is reportedly worse than in previous years. Farmers are spending valuable time searching for supplies instead of tending to their crops. Some have already transplanted seedlings without fertilizer, while others have had to halt planting altogether. Sushil Adhikari, a farmer from Rautahat, expressed his frustration, stating he searched over a dozen locations for just five kilograms of DAP without success. He fears that without timely fertilization, crop yields will significantly decrease.

The Nepalese government has repeatedly pledged to end fertilizer shortages, but these promises have not materialized. The ongoing crisis leaves farmers like the Singh brothers and Adhikari in a precarious position, risking arrest or reduced harvests as they try to secure the inputs needed for their livelihoods.

Fertiliser is needed at the time of transplanting. But this year I searched in more than a dozen places and still could not find any. What are we supposed to do now?

— Sushil AdhikariFarmer from Rautahat, describing the difficulty in obtaining fertilizer.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Kathmandu Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog