Shipments of chemical fertilisers from third countries to Birgunj’s Sirsiya Dry Port have started.

Rajendra Bahadur Karki, regional chief of Agriculture Inputs Company (AIC), said a railway container carrying 2,500 tonnes of chemical fertilisers arrived at the dry port on Tuesday.

The consignment was made by Daewoo. “Two additional containers are scheduled to arrive within a few days,” said Karki, adding of the two consignments, one has reached India’s Bihar, while the other is in West Bengal. Another consignment of 35,000 tonnes made by a Singapore company has been stuck at the Kolkata port for the past month.

Although the exporter has informed the AIC that it was unable to dispatch the consignment to Nepal due to traffic jam at the Kolkata port, Karki said there was no such problem there. “We have been repeatedly asking the company to dispatch the consignment as soon as possible,” Karki said, adding 63,000 tonnes of chemical fertilisers have been stranded at the Kolkata Port.

Meanwhile, AIC is yet to receive 10,000 tonnes of DAP procured from an Indian company. This year, almost all fertiliser consignments has been made from the Sirsiya dry port. The government was unable to supply the vital farm input despite having adequate orders and stocks because of the unrest in the Tarai and Indian embargo.

AIC said 40,847 tonnes of urea and DAP have been distributed to farmers in different districts. According to the Ministry of Agricultural Development, 90,000 tonnes of chemical fertilisers are required for winter crops, 80 percent of which is applied to wheat. Nepal’s paddy output has been projected to fall sharply by 10.22 percent to 4.29 million tonnes this fiscal year due to a poor monsoon rainfall, shortage of chemical fertilizers and crop failure in a number of Tarai districts.

The ministry said the country could face a food deficit of 800,000 tonnes due to reduced paddy production. However, the food scenario could become positive if the output of the chief winter crop—wheat—jumps significantly. Wheat production rose 5 percent to 1.97 million tonnes in 2014-15, despite the April 25 earthquake that affected output in most hill districts.