State likely to face urea shortage in August

Bhubaneswar: With the Centre yet to take a decision on chief minister Naveen Patnaik's demand on supply of required fertiliser, the State is likely to face shortage of urea in the months of August and September.

"The State is likely face shortage of urea in August and September as demand for urea will be more during this time", said Rajesh Verrma, agriculture secretary.

Though the state is receiving other fertilisers as per its reqirements, the State got only 1.14 lakh metric ton of urea against its requirement of 1.75 lakh MT of urea, Verma said.

Stating that there is no shortage of non-urea fertiliser, Verma said fertilizers like DAP, MOP and complex are available for the farmers, Verma said after the high level review meeting on the requirement of fertilizers for the Kharif season and problems in this area chaired by the Chief Minister at the state secretariat here.

Earlier on July 28, Patnaik had wrote to Union Chemicals and Fertiliser minister Ananth Kumar requesting him to provide at least 1.75 lakh metric ton of urea as the farmers would require them most in the month of August. But the state government is yet to receive any communication from the Centre on this account.