FILE PHOTO: Farmers sprinkle fertilizer on a wheat field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad | Photo Credit: AMIT DAVEFarmers appear to be stockpiling fertilizers, as government sales data for March shows a sharp spike in demand. By March 23, the volume of crop nutrients purchased had already overtaken the estimated demand for the full month and surpassed sales from the same period last year.As much as 20.21 lt of urea was sold during February 28-March 23, as against 16.2 lt in the whole of March 2025 and against estimated demand of 14.96 lt for the whole month.Similarly, 4.78 lt of DAP was sold between February 28 and March 23, against an estimated demand of 2.43 lt for the whole of March 2026, while 1.58 lt of MOP was sold versus 1.8 lt of estimated demand, and 7.22 lt of complex against 7.05 lt of estimated demand.While the government has neither confirmed nor denied the sudden increase in sales this month, it maintained that there was enough stock to meet the demand. Sources said higher demand was noticed from a few states including Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.Sources said urea sales this month, which stood at 2.63 lakh tonnes (lt) up to March 6, rose to 6.74 lt by March 13, up 56 per cent week-on-week. The sales have risen further by about 13 lt during March 14-23, the sources said. Simultaneously, sales of other fertilizers including Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP) and complex (in combination of N, P, K, S nutrients) have also increased.A senior government official of an eastern state admitted that a few districts have reported higher sales in March. Detailed instructions have been given to the collectors to watch daily sales figures and undertake physical stock verification.In western Uttar Pradesh, fertilizer purchase, which is mainly meant for maize and sugarcane, has risen in the last few days. In Ludhiana, Punjab, the secretary of a cooperative society said there has been a marginal increase in sales this month; mostly farmers buying for potato and maize crops.Rampal Jat, a farmer leader from Rajasthan, noted that a significant uptick in fertilizer sales is still some time away. He explained that the state is currently in a lean period and most farmers lack the financial or storage capacity to stockpile supplies so far in advance. Raghunath Dada Patil, a farmer leader from Maharashtra, said that the government needs to verify whether farmers are really buying higher or whether retailers are keeping the stock by showing sales on the record.“Fertilizer has become a puzzle for farmers. On government records, when there is sufficient availability, farmers are forced to stand in long queues and pay extra money to procure it. Now, in the off-season, when farmers have no money to buy and retailers are reporting negligible sales, the official figures still show high sales, which is extremely concerning,” said Kedar Sirohi, a farmer leader from Madhya Pradesh. This clearly indicates that fertilizer stocks are being deliberately bypassed and hoarded illegally, he alleged.“There is a clear preference for fertilizers that are cheaper and where farmers have been facing scarcity season after season. In irrigated areas where paddy planting begins around June 1, farmers in anticipation of a shortage have stocked up in advance. It will be interesting to see if farmers continue to buy in May,” said agriculture scientist A. K. Singh.The Government has kept the retail price of Urea unchanged at ₹267/bag (of 45 kg) for the last several years, while companies have been prevented from hiking the MRP of DAP above ₹1,350/bag (of 50 kg) by increasing the subsidy when global prices rise. In comparison, MOP and major complex fertilisers are sold at over ₹1,700/bag (of 50 kg).More than 70 per cent of India’s 655 lakh tonnes of consumption of Urea, DAP, MOP and complex in 2024-25 was shared by the top 10 states - Uttar Pradesh (16.9 per cent), Maharashtra (9.8 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (9.3 per cent), Karnataka (7.3 per cent), Punjab (6.3 per cent), Telangana (6.1 per cent), Bihar (6 per cent), Gujarat (5.9 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (5.7 per cent).Published on March 30, 2026