Nepal to receive first lot of 30,000 tons of chemical fertilizers from India

Kathmandu / Oct. 12: Nepal will be receiving 30,000 tons of chemical fertilizers being imported through a G2G agreement with India by mid-November.

Like every year, farmers struggled to get the fertilizers during the main rice plantation season this year too. The imported fertilizers will be distributed to farmers for their production of wheat and winter crops, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD).

Prakash Kumar Sanjel, spokesperson for the MoALD, said there was a delay in the import of chemical fertilizers due to the bureaucratic procedures between the two countries. Last March, India signed an agreement to provide chemical fertilizers to Nepal for five years.

Apart from the chemical fertilizers imported through the G2G agreement, the Agriculture Inputs Company (AIC) has imported 30,000 tons of urea in the current fiscal year. The AIC called for a global tender to import 100,000 tons of urea in total. Of the remaining amount, 30,000 tons have arrived at Visakhapatnam Port of India, the MoALD says.

Likewise, Salt Trading Corporation (STC) is also importing 30,000 tons of urea by mid-October. The corporation will be importing an additional 27,000 tons of urea by the third week of November.

According to the MoALD, AIC and STC currently have stocks of 7,989 tons of urea, 42,993 tons of DAP and 4,322 tons of Potash fertilizers.