Four out of five government-owned urea factories have stopped production due to an acute gas crisis, raising concerns over the availability of enough fertilizer during the ongoing Aman paddy cultivation season and the upcoming Boro paddy season.
About 14 lakh metric tonnes of urea is typically needed for the Aman and Boro season. But the current stock of urea is around 5 lakh tonnes, enough to meet the farmers' demand for two months, said a top official of the Department of Agricultural Extension preferring anonymity.
"If the stock is not replenished, we might face a urea crisis in December," he said.
Domestic urea production suffered a big blow after one of the two floating LNG terminals in the Bay of Bengal was damaged due to the aftershock of cyclone Remal in May.
The terminal, which injects around 500 million cubic feet of gas a day into the national grid, is yet to be operational.
