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'.

"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.

"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.