Fertiliser prices | SabrangIndia

Reject Zero Budget Natural Farming: AIKMS

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 08:13:43 +0000

Image Courtesy:indianexpress.com

Farmer unions on February 10, 2022 condemned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) plan citing financial presuures that such farmers would have to bear, especially given increased fertiliser prices.

All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS) General Secretary Ashish Mittal said that the ZBNF will serve as a ploy to further increase fertiliser prices and wind up its subsidy. This in turn will ruin small and middle farmers’ crop yields and returns that will go down by over 30 percent.

“As announced in the budget and in the poll campaign by the BJP, it plans to allow only natural farming upto 5 km on 2,500 km along both sides of River Ganga. This is to promote bio fertilizers which are costlier and less effective on High Yield Variety seeds,” said Mittal.

He warned that peasants along the Ganga belt will suffer if this plan is enforced by the police. However, the BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi have already voiced enthusiasm for this plan in parts of UP, Punjab and Gujarat.Meanwhile, farmer unions like the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) have already talked about doubling fertiliser costs. Mittal said that peasants also suffered heavily from black marketing.

“This year’s budget allocation for fertiliser subsidy is ₹1.05 lakh cr as against ₹ 1.55 lakh cr spent last year. The government is promoting ZBNF to reduce its support to farmers,” said Mittal.

Experts from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences did not find a scientific validation of ZBNF, although Sikkim, India’s first organic state, reported a decline in yields.

According to Down To Earth, the non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) visited 16 farms spread over the four districts of the state in November 2016 and found that farmers’ experiences of organic farming was far from satisfactory. Accordingly, many farmers reverted back to conventional farming.

Fertilizer subsidy is calculated based on three bags of urea, one bag of DAP and half a bag of MOP which is expected to be used per acre. Maximum retail price of this comes to ₹ 2,437 while the subsidy is also ₹ 2,418 per acre. The AIKMS said that with the implementation of ZBNF, small and marginal farmers will have to give up their farms and livelihood, contrary to Modi’s assurances.

“The BJP is fooling the farmers that their input expenditure on fertilizers will come down to zero in natural farming,” said Mittal.

As such, farmer unions appealed to farmers to oppose ZBNF plans that do not provide financial compensation. Instead, it asked farmers to demand a reduction in fertiliser prices. The SKM reminded farmers that the government is yet to provide a legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP), withdraw FIRs against farmers, compensate families of martyred farmers, reduce raised electricity charges and sack Union Minister Ajay Mishra, who allegedly played an essential role in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre.

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PMO announces old fertilizer rates for farmers with 140% hiked subsidy on DAP fertiliser

Thu, 20 May 2021 07:27:12 +0000

Image Courtesy:socialmediagossips.com

In what the Prime Minister’s office calls a historic pro-farmer decision, the Centre on May 19, 2021 decided to increase the subsidy for Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertiliser from Rs. 500 per bag to Rs. 1200 per bag, an increase of 140 percent. The hike in fertilizer prices had sparked outrage among farmers. Earlier, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) mentioned how the DAP is a primary fertilizer during sowing of different Kharif crops like paddy, cotton, groundnut, etc. The government now appears to have bowed down to pressure from farmers’ groups.

During a high-level meeting, Union Ministers discussed the rising fertilizer prices affected by the internationally rising prices of phosphoric acid, ammonia, etc.

“Despite the rise in international market prices of DAP, it has been decided to continue selling it at the older price of Rs.1200 and the central government has decided to bear all the burden of price hike. The amount of subsidy per bag has never been increased so much at once,” said the PMO.

Annually, the central government spends about Rs 80,000 crore on subsidies for chemical fertilisers. The recent decision will result in an additional cost of Rs. 14,775 crore. However, the DAP fertilizer is also one of the most crucial manure for farmers.

Last year, the actual price of the fertiliser was Rs 1,700 per bag with a government subsidy of Rs. 500 per bag. However, international prices of phosphoric acid, ammonia etc. used in DAP increased by 60 percent to 70 percent. Thus, the actual price of a DAP bag is Rs. 2,400 that can now be reduced to Rs. 1,200 per bag.

“This is the second major decision in the farmers’ interest, after directly transferring Rs. 20,667 crore in Farmers’ account under PM-KISAN on the day of Akshay Tritiya,” said the PMO.

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Fertiliser prices go through the roof, AIKS demands roll-back

Wed, 19 May 2021 06:34:26 +0000

Image Courtesy:thehindu.com

Farmers have condemned the central government’s decision to increase prices of essential fertilisers just before the start of the Kharif season. Members of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) have demanded that the central government roll back these prices to make agriculture viable again.

Already, the hike in prices of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) is as high as 58 percent from Rs. 1,200 per bag of 50 kg to Rs. 1,900 per bag, said AIKS General Secretary Hannan Mollah. Citing reports, he said prices of Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium (NPK) fertilisers rose by 52 percent or an increase of Rs. 615 per bag. This means prices increased from around Rs. 1,175 per bag to Rs. 1,790 per bag.

“Potash prices have risen by Rs. 850 per bag almost doubling from around Rs. 875 per bag in May, 2020 to Rs.1,725 per bag. Ammonium Phosphate Sulphate (APS) prices have risen by Rs. 425 per bag, i.e., from about Rs. 925 per bag to about Rs. 1,350 per bag, about 46 percent increase,” he said.

Moreover, increasing diesel prices resulted in an exorbitant increase in cost of irrigation and tilling using tractors and tillers. The central government is yet to accept farmers’ demand for a fixed Minimum Support Price (MSP) at 50 percent more than Cost of Production (C2+50 percent) despite increasing input costs. Farmers claim this increase in fertiliser prices is a direct attack on Indian farmers.

“The fraud played on farmers by the BJP Government and Narendra Modi, who are advertising in a big way that Rs. 2,000 has been transferred to the banks of 8.69 crore farmers under PM-KISAN has to be exposed. In fact even if one considers only DAP and that in a hectare a farmer uses 4 bags the increase in input cost is Rs. 2,800 per hectare,” said Mollah.

This increase in prices comes at a time when peak buying of fertilisers take place for the Kharif sowing. Farmers use DAP as a primary fertiliser during sowing of crops like paddy, cotton, groundnut etc. Such price-hikes will adversely affect tenant farmers, poor and middle farmers, who may have to rely on private money lenders.

The AIKS accused the Centre of filling the coffers of corporate fertiliser companies at the cost of farmers’ livelihood. Accordingly, it called for a control on fertiliser prices to keep a check on arbitrary decisions of companies that are profiteering during Covid-19.

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