February 20: More than half of the budget allocated for the agricultural sector is spent on the purchase of chemical fertilizers. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had allocated a budget of Rs 55.97 billion for the agriculture sector this year. While announcing the budget, the then finance minister had said that a maximum of Rs 15 billion was allocated for purchasing chemical fertilizers.
Nepal requires around 750,000 to 800,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers annually. Due to the increase in the price of raw materials in the international market and the economic recession, the amount allocated in the budget was not enough to purchase the required amount of fertilizer and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development asked the Ministry of Finance for an additional Rs 16 billion.
Prakash Kumar Sanjel, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the ministry wrote to the finance ministry to secure additional resources as it seems that the allocated budget will not be enough to buy enough fertilizer for the paddy season of the current fiscal year. Along with this, the budget for fertilizer purchase alone has now reached Rs 38.73 billion.
According to Sanjel, 329,000 metric tons of fertilizers have been arranged so far. A total of 160,000 metric tons have been imported and 144,000 tons of fertilizer have been sold and distributed.
According to Rajendra Bahadur Karki, head of the purchasing division of Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, although the price of urea has decreased in the international market recently, the prices of DAP and potassium on the other hand have increased. The price of urea is now USD 507 per metric ton, down from its earlier price of USD 900. Similarly, the price of DAP, which was purchased for up to USD 450 per metric ton two years ago, has now reached USD 832.
Karki added that due to the continuous increase in the price of fertilizer, the government cannot buy the required amount of fertilizer from the allocated budget, so there is a need to ensure additional resources.
