TEHRAN, Iran, March 8
Trend:
Iran's agriculture sector is facing challenges, due to lack of urea fertilizer, said Hamid Rasouli, managing director of Agriculture Support Services Company.
“Petrochemical companies stopped selling urea fertilizers to farmers in July, but after the new regulation came into force, the distribution resumed in late September. However, the supplies were suspended again last month due to the cut of gas feed,” he said, Trend reports citing ILNA.
Rasouli believes that lack of urea fertilizer supplies by petrochemical companies ahead of the cultivation season will create a shock for agriculture sector, especially wheat planting.
"There have been efforts to solve the issue urea fertilizers’ supply by negotiating with the CEO of the National Petrochemical Company, the National Gas Company and deputy oil minister, Consumers and Producers Protection Organization, MP's and governors," he said.
Rasouli pointed out that the Agriculture Ministry is closely following the issue and discussing it with the officials and the First Vice President.
“Part of this problem is that petrochemical companies prefer to export urea fertilizers rather than distributing them to domestic production due to rise of USD rate in foreign currency market," he said.
Farms are concerned over the price of urea fertilizers in the free market. The price has doubled, while the peak of fertilizer consumption is from
April 3 to April 8, which coincides with Iranian new year (starts March 21,2020) holiday and there are limited trucks that can carry fertilizers.