Govt not helping farmers with shortage of essential fertilisers: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on 2 July, Wednesday, accused the government of not taking any steps to help the farmers who are "struggling with shortage of essential fertilisers" such as DAP and urea as China has "stopped the supply" of speciality fertilisers imported from there.

Gandhi said on the one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is printing his photos on fertiliser bags and, on the other hand, farmers are becoming dependent on 'Made in China'.

Modi govt asks Food Corporation of India/FCI to buy 20.04 crore Modi photo printed synthetic ration bags for distribution to beneficiaries. In the 1960s my mother was deputed to FCI when Anthony L Dias was handling foodgrain crisis. None of the then PMs thought of self-promotion. pic.twitter.com/Nkn8ZF88N5

— Seema Sengupta MCIJ (@SeemaSengupta5) January 16, 2024

"India is an agriculture state and farmers are the backbone of our economy. But, this backbone is bending due to foreign dependency. India imports 80 percent of specialty fertilizer from China. And now, China has stopped supply," he said in a post in Hindi on Facebook.

"This is not the first time — farmers across the country are struggling with the shortage of essential fertilisers like urea and DAP and now the 'Chinese crisis' of specialty fertiliser is looming," Gandhi wrote.

"Despite knowing that this supply can stop anytime, the government did not make any preparations. When there was a need to promote domestic production, they did not make any policy or plan," the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said in his post.

India imports about 80% of its supplies of these chemicals from China. "China has been restricting suppliers of specialty fertilisers to India for the last four to five years. However, this time it is a complete halt," said Rajib Chakraborty, president, Soluble Fertilizer… pic.twitter.com/XvOzb12z74

— ShanghaiPanda (@thinking_panda) June 27, 2025

"Will the farmer now be dependent on others even on his own soil? Losing precious time and good crops, the farmer who is drowning in debt and despair, is asking, ‘With whom and whose development?’," he added.

Gandhi cited reports that claimed farmers are facing shortage of DAP and urea, especially in Rajasthan, ahead of the sowing of Kharif crops.

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