Kathmandu, March 1
After efforts of over one and a half years, Nepal has signed a government-to-government agreement with India for the import of chemical fertiliser import.
For the past few years, the chemical fertiliser shortage has been one of the biggest problems of the Nepali agriculture sector. The government has launched several efforts to minimise the problem, but most of them have failed.
In this context, Nepal’s Agriculture Secretary Govinda Prasad Sharma and India’s Chemical and Fertiliser Secretary Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi signed an agreement virtually on Monday.
According to the agreement, Nepal will import 150,000-210,000 metric tonnes of urea and DAP chemical fertilisers every year, according to Nepal’s Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Prakash Kumar Sanjel. Nepal will import 935,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertiliser in five years in total.
The agreement, however, does not mention exact rates of the fertiliser import but says India will import it at the same rate it purchases.
Sanjel says the two countries will form another mechanism to discuss the cost issue.
