Have strong urea buffer stock to supply farmers in Rabi season: Govt

New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) The overall stock of urea fertiliser in the country has increased from 48.64 lakh metric tons on October 1, 2025, to 68.85 lakh metric tons by October 31, reflecting a growth of 20.21 lakh metric tons, which will ensure adequate supplies to farmers, according to a statement issued by the Department of Fertilisers on Monday.

The months from July to October 2025 also recorded the highest-ever supplies of urea to states (in terms of movement of rakes), underlining the government’s proactive efforts to ensure the timely supply of urea to farmers, the statement said.

The enhanced availability has been ensured by bridging the gap between domestic production and consumption through imports. Between April and October 2025, India imported 58.62 lakh metric tons of agricultural-grade urea, compared to 24.76 lakh metric tons during the same period in the previous year. This rise in imports not only met the enhanced demand of urea during kharif 2025 but also helped to build adequate buffer stocks for the upcoming rabi season, the statement explained.

Domestic urea production has also shown improvement, with production during October 2025 reaching 26.88 lakh metric tons, higher by 1.05 lakh metric tons compared to the same month last year. The average monthly production between April and October remained a robust nearly 25 lakh metric tons. Further, imports of approx. 17.5 lakh metric tons are already lined up for November and December and will be further boosted through timely interventions at the global level, according to the statement.

The Department of Fertilisers further stated that it has ensured adequate availability of fertilisers, including urea, across the country during the kharif 2025 season. Through timely planning and close coordination with Indian Railways, ports, state governments and fertilizer companies, the government ensured that farmers received the required quantities of urea without any shortage which is evident by the fact that against the projected requirement of 185.39 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) as assessed by Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the availability ensured was 230.53 LMT which was far excess of the sales of 193.20 LMT.

This reflects sufficient all-India availability of urea. Evidently, farmers have consumed more urea in kharif-2025 to the tune of approximately 4.08 lakh metric tons as compared to kharif 2024, indicating better availability of urea to cater to a higher cropped area owing to a good monsoon, the statement said.

Continuous efforts are on track to enhance the domestic production capacities in the country. Two urea plants at Namrup in Assam and Talcher in Odisha are under execution with 12.7 lakh metric tons capacity each per annum. A number of proposals for enhancing the production of urea have been received and are under consideration. These projects, once approved, will reduce India’s import dependency substantially and lead to atmanirbharta in the urea production, according to the statement.

In coordination with the Agriculture Department, state Agriculture officers have also been continuously guided to improve distributional efficiency and also to take effective action against diversion, smuggling, hoarding and black marketing as well as excess use of Urea. Many states have taken steps and started the implementation of innovative tools for better vigilance and usage of subsidised urea, the statement added.

--IANS

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