Sufficient Fertilisers Now, But Problems May Arise If West Asia Conflict Prolongs: Official

Kochi, March 8: India currently has sufficient availability of fertilisers, but prolonged conflict in West Asia could pose problems, said a top official of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT), the largest supplier to South Indian states.

FACT, a public sector company, relies on raw materials such as rock phosphate and phosphoric acid exported from several countries in West Asia and the Middle East, and they are brought via the sea route. The prolonged conflict could cause significant damage to the global economy, according to analysts.

Currently, there is no harvest season in India; it will begin after July, the Kochi-headquartered FACT’s Managing Director S Sakthimani told PTI, when asked about the potential impact of the current global situation on fertiliser production in the country.

“We have sufficient urea available. We hope that things (the war situation) will probably be resolved within a month. We have sufficient urea available for our Kharif season. We will not have any problems,” he said.

“But, if the situation continues for the next six months, problems may arise. It could cause problems in the next crop season, that is the Rabi season, and appropriate steps are being taken to address it,” he added.

India has two main cropping seasons – Kharif and Rabi. Kharif crops are sown with the onset of the monsoon in June–July and harvested around September–October, while Rabi crops are planted in October–November and harvested by April–May. Urea is widely used across the country to boost yields in both seasons.

Sakthimani said that companies like FACT not only source gas from the Middle East, but also from Australia. “There are no problems with the gas line in that area right now. There is instability in some places, but that is not a problem for the fertiliser sector,” he said.