Farmers in Madhya Pradesh battle acute shortage of fertilisers

Bhopal: MA video from the Bhind province Madhya Pradesh shows angry farmers blockading the National Highway in protest after 200 farmers were turned back empty-handed from the Galla Mandi where they had gone to procure fertilisers.

On Sunday, desperate farmers looted fertilisers from a cooperative warehouse in Saraya village of Ater. In Sabalgarh, a municipality in the Morena district of Madhya Pradesh, farmers looted a truck that was carrying fertilisers. The police reached the spot and tried to stop them and even used mild force to stop the loot but the farmers were seen running away with sacks full of fertilisers. In the video from Bhind, 65-year-old Shivcharan Yadav can be seen weeping on camera after he

didn't receive the two sacks of fertiliser he had stood in a queue since 4 AM to receive. The farmers of Bhind say that without the right fertiliser the crops will go bad. Experts claim that poor allocation of the main fertiliser that farmers are requesting - Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) - has led to the shortage as the demand for DAP and other fertilisers have increased up to 50% ahead of the rabri growing season. Instead of DAP, the farmers are now being provided with urea, which is insufficient.