DOTI: Farmers in Doti are worried over the shortage of chemical fertilizer. They are bound to launch rice plantation despite not having the chemical fertilizer.

They are irate over the government’s failure to supply the essential even during the peak time of cultivation.

The Agriculture Inputs Company, Dipayal has admitted that they could not supply necessary amount of chemical fertilizer as there was little import from India.

At least 10,898 hectares of land is cultivated for the rice plantation in the district, according to Province Agriculture Directorate, Dipayal.

So far, only 25 percent of the land has been cultivated. A resident from Silgadhi Municipality-4, Karna Bahadur Kathayat, expressed sadness that they would not have good harvest of rice because urea fertilizer was not available during the plantation.

“When there is no fertilizer during cultivation, how can crops yield good harvest,” he worried, adding, it would be difficult to survive being a farmer.

It is the peak season for rice plantation, but scarcity of fertilizer has afflicted farmers much, said Suraj Bahadur BK from Pipalla of Dipayal. “Whose failure is it behind the unavailability of fertilizer,” he wondered.

The farmers here have blamed the Agriculture Inputs Company, the agency to manage chemical fertilizer in the district, behind the unavailability of the fertilizers.

Another farmer Ram Bahadur Damai from Kalagadh of Shikhar Municipality-2 said, “In the field where rice was planted three weeks back, the rice has not grown well.”

Although there is scarcity of urea, DAP and potassium fertilizers in the district, plenty of rainfall has taken the farmers to their fields for rice plantation.

Senior officer at Province Agriculture Directorate at Dipayal, Yagya Raj Joshi, suggested the farmers to use compost to fulfill the need.