Urea shortage hits Telangana farmers hard

Hyderabad, Aug 24 (IANS) The shortage of urea has severely impacted farmers in Telangana, which is witnessing a shortfall of 87,800 tonnes during the current month, the state government said on Sunday.

The state government said that it is closely monitoring the situation and has requested the Centre to expedite additional allocations and dispatches to cover the deficit.

The Centre has also been urged to ensure uninterrupted indigenous production and timely imports of urea and to take steps to stabilise supply during the critical Kharif months.

The state government reassured farmers that all efforts are being made to secure adequate and timely urea supplies to prevent disruption of agricultural operations.

According to the status note on urea supply and consumption situation in the state during the ongoing Kharif season, the Centre allocated 9.80 lakh tonnes of urea to Telangana for 2025–26, taking into account the opening buffer stock of 1.90 lakh tonnes as of April 1, 2025.

Telangana’s average annual consumption of urea during the last five Kharif seasons stands at 9.82 lakh tonnes. However, peak consumption was 10.48 lakh tonnes in 2020–21 and 10.42 lakh tonnes in 2023–24.

During the critical months of August and September, the average consumption is 3.22 lakh tonnes and 2.66 lakh tonnes, respectively.

On the supply position between April and August 2025, the official note says that against a planned supply of 8.30 lakh tonnes, only 5.62 lakh tonnes were received, resulting in a shortfall of 2.69 lakh tonnes (32 per cent).

Presently, the stock of urea available across the state is only 0.40 lakh tonnes, as against a required availability of 4.24 lakh tonnes for this stage of the season.

For August 2025, a total allocation of 1.70 lakh tonnes was issued, out of which 1.31 lakh tonnes were from indigenous sources and 0.39 lakh tonnes from imports.

The major indigenous supplier, Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL), was allocated 65,000 tonnes (49.6 per cent of the indigenous plan). However, after supplying only 24,000 tonnes, RFCL went into shutdown from August 14 to September 1, creating a gap of 41,000 tonnes.

Additionally, indigenous suppliers PPL and MCFL could not supply 18,000 tonnes out of their 23,500 tonnes allocation.

The total shortfall in August is 87,800 tonnes - an indigenous supply gap of 59,000 tonnes and an imported supply gap of 28,800 tonnes. To partially address this, the Union Department of Fertilisers allotted 28,600 tonnes on August 20 from other indigenous companies. Of this, 15,600 tonnes have been dispatched. While 2,600 tonnes are being loaded, the remaining 10,400 tonnes are expected by August 28. Despite this, there still remains a net deficit of 30,400 tonnes in indigenous supply for August 2025.

The state government said that the shortage is occurring at a time when demand is at its peak, given the advancement of the agricultural season and high requirement for all three major crops during August–September. The short supply situation has severely impacted the farming community, it said.

--IANS

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