Farmers in Tamil Nadu’s delta districts, cultivating kuruvai or short-term crops, have raised concerns about the scarcity of urea in various private shops. While there are limited farmers’ cooperative societies, private shops are more widespread, leading to a direct connection between farmers and shop owners. The shortage of urea in private shops has prompted worries among farmers who rely on it for crops like paddy, banana, sugarcane, and cotton.
Although cooperative societies provide urea to those who have taken loans from them, private shops have no such restrictions. Officials from the agriculture department stated that while there is ample urea supply in cooperative societies, they will investigate the shortage in private shops. Despite the steady price of urea over the years, other fertilizers like DAP and potash have seen significant price increases.