Hoshiarpur: Fertilizer companies have recently implemented a massive hike in the prices of fertilizers used by farmers. This has resulted in an increase of ?1,100 per quintal; a 50 kg bag of fertilizer that previously cost ?1,700 will now cost ?2,250. Reacting to this issue, former Cabinet Minister and senior BJP leader Tikshan Sood stated that such an unprecedented hike has never been witnessed before.
In the past, whenever fertilizer prices rose due to international market trends, the Central Government would offset the cost by increasing subsidies. The hike in fertilizer prices will destabilize the farmers' budgets and drive up crop production costs—expenses that farmers cannot afford to bear.
Farmers are already reeling under debt due to adverse weather conditions. If the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops were to be raised sharply to compensate, the financial burden would fall upon households and the middle class. He asserted that the only solution is for the Central and State governments to collaborate and provide subsidies on the increased fertilizer prices to offer relief to the farmers.