SATV, Kathmandu, Apr. 25 - At a time when farmers are facing a shortage of fertilisers for use in their fields, around 30,000 sacks of chemical fertiliser have been lying unused for years at the Tatopani Dry Port and Customs Office.
According to Tul Bahadur Pandey, Information Officer at the Tatopani Customs Office, a total of 29,826 sacks of urea fertiliser have been stored in the customs warehouse for years.
As approximately 1,400 tonnes of fertiliser have remained unused for so long, they have now reached a condition where they are no longer usable.
The fertiliser was jointly imported from China by Sinomax-Silk Market, Global Matrix, and Bidh Pvt. Ltd. under Silk Company, in agreement with the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited (AICL).
In the fiscal year 2022/23, there was a contract to import 735,000 sacks of urea fertiliser. However, when the company failed to deliver the fertiliser on time as per the agreement, its deposit was confiscated as a penalty and the company was blacklisted.
The importer companies had agreed to import 2,500 tonnes of fertiliser but failed to deliver even 500 tonnes on time, preventing the fertiliser from reaching farmers’ fields.
Despite multiple extensions and agreements to bring in the fertiliser, the companies failed to comply, leading to action against them.
As a result, the fertiliser they had imported remains stuck in the customs warehouse. “Due to being stored for so many years, the fertiliser is no longer usable,” said Pandey.
He added that the long-stored fertiliser has created a shortage of space in the customs yard for storing other commercial goods.
The AICL had given the importer a final deadline of May 28, 2024, on the condition that the fertiliser held at customs be delivered to AICL depots within 30 days and the remaining 29,500 tonnes, as per the contract, be delivered within 107 days.
However, as 1,300 tonnes were not delivered even after 300 days, the importing company was blacklisted as a penalty.
According to Bijay Sherpa, a representative of Silk Market, the Chinese side released fewer containers through the Tatopani border, which prevented them from importing fertiliser as per the agreement.
Although some tonnes of fertiliser were sent to Kathmandu through mutual agreement between AICL and Silk Market, the remaining fertiliser was delayed beyond the given deadline, resulting in it being stuck at customs.
Chief of Tatopani Customs, Rajendra Prasad Chudal, said that between June 1 and June 17, 2023, a total of 3,590 tonnes of fertiliser had entered from China.
About 2,200 tonnes were cleared through customs and sent to the capital, while around 1,400 tonnes still remain in the customs warehouse.
He said that, as the matter between the Agricultural Inputs Company and the suppliers is currently under judicial review, no final decision has been made regarding what to do with the fertiliser stored in the warehouse.
