Centre has entered rabi season with 34%higher fertiliser stock: Chouhan

Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said the Centre has entered the 2026-27 rabi season with 16.4 million tonnes (MT) of fertiliser in stock, 4.1 MT more that at the start of the last year’s rabi season. The opening stock was 12.3 MT last year, which means the stock this year is about 34% higher.

Addressing a press conference during the National Agriculture Conference, the minister said the government has assessed the total fertiliser requirement for rabi 2026-27 at 38.1 MT. Of this, urea accounts for 19.9 MT, diammonium phosphate (DAP) for 5.5 MT, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) fertilisers for 7.9 MT, single super phosphate (SSP) for 3.1 MT and muriate of potash (MOP) for 1.6 MT.

“This year’s stock is higher than last year and will help meet the season’s requirement,” Chouhan said.

The higher opening stock comes as fertiliser sales during the ongoing kharif season have remained below the government’s assessed requirement.

According to official figures, as of September 25, fertiliser utilisation during kharif remained below the assessed requirement. Urea requirement stood at 19 MT, against sales of 17.8 MT, while DAP sales were 4.5 MT, against a requirement of 5.6 MT. Overall fertiliser requirement was 38.4 MT, compared with sales of 32.3 MT.

The government attributed part of the decline in sales to tighter monitoring under its digital fertiliser sales framework. It said total fertiliser sales had fallen by about 27% from last year, while sales in border districts declined 37.56%. About 88.2% of purchases were made within the government’s recommended fertiliser-use framework, while around 11.8% of purchases were outside it, according to the government.

Meanwhile, the government has also reported a surplus in certified seed availability for rabi crops.

Against a requirement of 30.7 million quintals, about 4.9 million quintals of additional certified and quality seed are available, according to the briefing.

The government said seed availability is adequate across major rabi crops, including cereals, potato, pulses and oilseeds. States and agencies have been asked to coordinate to ensure timely movement of seed to areas where it is required.

The Centre has also asked states to join the SATHI portal, which is intended to improve monitoring of the seed supply chain and help check the sale of fake and poor-quality seeds.

The government is also pushing for faster payment to farmers selling pulses. States have been asked to maintain a ‘Revolving Fund’ with government procurement agencies so that farmers can be paid within 72 hours of selling their produce.