Urea shortage hits Telangana amid kharif season; agriculture minister urges centre to intervene

HYDERABAD: With the kharif season underway and farmers facing an acute shortage of urea, agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao has written to the Centre, urging immediate intervention to ensure timely and sufficient supply of the critical fertiliser.

In letters addressed to Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers JP Nadda, Tummala highlighted the alarming gap between the state's demand and actual supply. The minister said the Centre had allocated five lakh metric tonnes of urea to Telangana for the months of April, May, and June. However, only 3.06 lakh metric tonnes have been supplied so far, leaving the state grappling with a shortfall of 1.94 lakh metric tonnes. "With the kharif season in full swing, farmers are in urgent need of urea. The short supply is creating serious concern on the ground," Tummala wrote.

To mitigate the crisis, Tummala urged the Centre to immediately allocate vessels for transporting 0.97 lakh metric tonnes of imported urea scheduled for July.