- "AAP machinery is busy in Gujrat and Himachal Pradesh,the poll bound states, but Punjab is awaiting DAP fertilizer," Ajaypal Singh Sandhu, senior congress leader from Kotkapura..
- Ideally, the fertilizer should be available by mid october so that the farmers can sow wheat in time and without panic.
Faridkot: What could be described as the failure of the 7 months old AAP government in Punjab on the agriculture front, is the acute shortage of the DAP, which is the main fertilizer to be drilled while sowing the wheat crop.
Officially, the sowing of wheat starts from the last week of October and runs till mid November post paddy harvesting.
According to the sources, about 16000 MT of DAP is required for the Rabi season by November 15, but so far, only 5000 MT of DAP has arrived in the district. It makes roughly 1/3rd of the total requirement of the fertilizer in Faridkot.
The calculation of the Punjabh government and agriculture department do not hold ground that the said requirement is supposed to be by November 20 as all the area is under paddy, instead of cotton or other crops after which wheat is sown late.
Most of the farmers have already irrigated the fields in standing paddy crop about two weeks back so that they can sow the wheat crop in the first week of November post harvesting.
If the farmers irrigate the fields( do rouni) post harvesting, then the sowing of the wheat gets delayed about 15 days, and it is too late leading to the decline in the yield.
Thanks to the late rainfalls, the paddy harvesting is going at least 10 days behind the normal schedule,otherwise, the shortage of the DAP would have taken a very serious shape.
According to the Punjab Agriculture University(PAU), the farmers need to drill about 55 kg of DAP per acre during sowing of wheat.But with the small availability of the DAP, farmers have to wait for sowing till it is available in days to come, which is not in sight.
“The DAP is a big problem for the farmers.When they have to sell their crops, they have to face harassment and when they have to buy the fertilizers, they again have to face the same ordeal. The DAP fertilizer must be available in sufficient quantity before 15th of October if the government wants the farmers to do a hassle free sowing of wheat,” said Devinder Singh, a farmer from village Deviwala.
“The AAP rode on the slogan of the government of the common man, but now it has forgotten all its priorities and promises. It has now mainly focussed on winning the Gujarat and HP elections.But they are not going to get anything from there. Rather, the AAP is swindling the Punjab exchequre in other states forgetting its promises. Agriculture is a priority in Punjab, but when the DAP, the major nutrient to sow potatoes and other crops besides wheat is not available, what has it done to the farmers?questions Ajaypal Singh Sandhu, former president of DCC Faridkot who had unsuccessfully contested from Kotkapura.
Dealers and agriculture department face off
On Thursday, the Faridkot fertilizers dealers got 5000 bags of the DAP fertilizer from a rake unloaded in Muktsar.
The dealers wanted to sell the DAP as their own measurements, allegedly to please their regular customers who buy other things from them, but the district agriculture department deputed its own officials to monitor the sale of the chemical so that no blackmarketing is there.
The 10 dealers got the small quantity of the DAP (about 5000 bags)which was also stopped due to the monitoring of the department.
The dealers shut their shops and sat on Dharna outside the office of the CAO Faridkot against this practice.
When contacted, chief agriculture officer Farikdot Dr Karanjeet Singh Gill admitted the shortage of the DAP.
“We have a total requirement of the DAP of about 16000 MT by November 20 and by now, we have got about 5000 MT of it. The rest of the supply is supposed to reach soon, before the farmiers start sowing wheat, which is about 1 to 2 weeks away,” he said.
About the dealers protest, the CAO said that it is the duty of the department to check any blackmarketing before it happens, so the department wanted to monitor the sale.
“We wanted to sell 10 bags per farmer and wanted to monitor the sale only, not interfere at any step,” Gill said.
Other substitutes
According to the chief agriculture officer, Karanjeet Singh Gill, the farmers can apply 150 Kg of Single Superphosphate(SSP),plus 25 kg urea as a substitute to the DAP.
“The farmers can also use 75 kg of NPK(12:32:16) as the substitute of the same,” Gill said.
DC's phone unanswered
Deputy commissioner Faridkot,Ruhee Dugg, did not answer the call made on her cell phone to seek her comment on the shortage of the DAP.