2 trains carrying urea reach Ludhiana

Two trains carrying urea reached the district on Wednesday, bringing much-needed respite to the farmers.

Shortage of urea was severely affecting the wheat and potato crops. According to Ludhiana chief agriculture officer Narinder Singh Benipal, two trains carrying around 2,650 tonnes of urea each have reached Khanna and Ludhiana railway stations on Wednesday and more such trains are expected in next couple of days.

Due to train blockade in Punjab, there was an acute shortage of urea in Ludhiana. As of October 31, just about 7% stocks of urea and around 71% stocks of DAP fertiliser were left in the district.

Benipal informed that although some stock of urea and DAP was coming in trucks, the quantity was still not enough to meet the demand of farmers as each truck can carry a maximum of around 500 bags of urea (about 20 tonnes). “Whereas today, 1,18,000 bags of urea have arrived in two trains alone,” he added.

In Ludhiana district, wheat is sown on nearly 2.5 lakh hectares and potato on around 13,500 hectares, along with some other crops. For that, 1.1 lakh tonnes of urea is required and till Tuesday, the pending demand was of 65,000 tonnes. Now, with the arrival of about 5,300 tonnes of urea, the cooperative societies of the district would get the supplies.

The sowing of wheat had started in the first week of November and shortage of both urea and DAP was affecting the operations, adding to the farmers’ woes.

As per officials of the agriculture department, there is a demand of 47,432 tonnes of urea in the cooperative societies of the district — 6,772 tonnes in Payal, 7,043 tonnes in Ludhiana (West), 5,989 tonnes in Ludhiana (East), 7,452 tonnes in Raikot, 2,763 tonnes in Khanna, 5,603 tonnes in Samrala and 11,857 tonnes in Jagraon.