Fertiliser shortage hits farmers battling low summer yield

Input shortage for winter crops could spell more trouble for most farmers, whose summer crop, mostly paddy, was battered by late-September rains.

Farmer Bhirikhan Mandal in north Jhitakaiya, Bara, brought diammonium phosphate at Rs70 per kg to apply on his wheat farm. The subsidised rate is Rs45 per kg and is available only through government-designated cooperatives.