KATHMANDU: Minister for Agriculture, Forest and Ecology Gita Chaudhary has said that the Ministry was making the best possible efforts to ensure timely chemical fertilizers.

At a news conference at the Ministry today, Minister Chaudhary said that the Ministry has taken the information received from across the country on supply of fertilizers, distribution system and farmers’ complaints into account.

She said that the government has intensified steps to control artificial shortage of fertilizers, black-marketing and unusual play of intermediaries. “We have prioritized the jobs of immediately handling farmers’ grievances, instructing the concerned agencies and resolving the issues,” Minister Chaudhary shared.

Minister Chaudhary shared that Agricultural Inputs Company Limited sold 53,716 metric tonnes of chemical fertilizers and the Salt Trading Corporation sold 35,478 metric tonnes of fertilizers in the past four months.

She stated that these two companies issued notices to import 350,000 (including 50,000 metric tonnes under G2G) metric tonnes of chemical fertilizers since mid-March.

The Minister also shared that the government has planned to import additional 210,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertilizers within a month to ease the distribution system.

Ministry’s Secretary Dr Rajendra Prasad Mishra said that all sugarcane farmers, if missing, will receive their entire cash for the sale of their products within some days.