Finally, fertiliser starts arriving into country

The fertilisers imported by Agriculture Inputs Company Limited (AICL) through various global tenders have started pouring into the country.

Some of the 100,000 tonnes of fertilisers that AICL is purchasing through various tenders have started entering Nepal since last week. Almost 18,000 tonnes of urea imported through the global tender by the AICL has already arrived in Nepal.

Out of the total fertilisers being imported 30,000 tonnes of urea in a tender, 7,650 tonnes has been delivered to the Biratnagar warehouse and 10,000 tonnes in Birgunj warehouse so far, informed  acting managing director of AICL Rajendra Bahadur Karki.

Earlier, the Company had called a global tender to purchase 30,000 tonnes of urea. Karki said that remaining 1,200 tonnes of urea of the 30,000 tonnes purchased from Oman through a global tender will arrive in Nepal within a week from Kolkata port.

“This is the first time in the history of Nepal that the fertiliser entered Nepal within 27 days of the contract signed with the supplier company Swiss Singapore,” he said.

According to Karki, additional 20,000 tonnes of DAP from the global tender has also arrived in Kolkata from Jordan.  

It is expected that this fertiliser will start arriving in Nepal within a week. informed Karki. He said that after contracting for 30,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser, it has been delivered on time.

According to him, an additional 20,000 tonnes of DAP is also being loaded in Jordan and the process to import another 30,000 tonnes of urea has also begun.

“We are supplying fertilisers across the country as soon as possible targeting the top dressing of paddy,” he added.

The current arrival of fertiliser consignment in the country would give a huge relief to the scrambling farmers.

“It is better to use DAP during paddy plantation and urea in top dressing. But, due to lack of knowledge, farmers are using only urea instead of DAP which leads to soaring demand for urea,” he said.

Even though there was a problem in the supply of chemical fertilsiers during the paddy plantation, farmers can use required urea fertiliser for top dressing of paddy, he said. Farmers had faced an acute shortage of chemical fertilisers during the plantation. The supply of chemical fertiliser is improved at present when the plantation has reached near completion across the country.