Maharaja Yadav of ward 5 of Narainapur Rural Municipality in Banke survives on the harvest from her five kattha (0.17 hectares) of farmland, which feeds her family for a year and also helps cover daily expenses.

Her household of six—her husband, three daughters and a son—depends entirely on farming. The income from the field supports household expenses, children’s education and other daily needs.

Two years ago, a prolonged drought in Narainapur dealt a severe blow to her family. Without irrigation facilities, most of the paddy crop dried up. Since then, she has been struggling to repay loans taken to manage household expenses after the failed harvest.

“We somehow managed food for ourselves, but paying for the children’s education became very difficult,” she said. “If we could get good seeds, fertiliser and timely irrigation, the harvest would improve and our family could survive.”

As this year’s planting season approaches, Yadav is not worried only about drought but also about arranging fertiliser.

She says farmers have never been able to get fertiliser easily during the peak farming season, and whatever is available in the market is expensive.

“Even after standing in line for hours, we don’t get enough fertiliser,” said Yadav. “Without fertiliser, production falls. If there is no production, we cannot even recover our investment.”

Farmers say they have suffered for years from shortages of fertiliser, seeds and irrigation facilities during the paddy planting season. Other farmers in Narainapur complain that despite working from morning till evening, they are unable to earn enough from farming.

“Sometimes there is drought, and sometimes fertiliser is unavailable when needed most,” another farmer said. “Our hard work is going to waste.”

Pushpa Raj Shrestha, manager of the Nepalgunj branch of the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, said the current stock includes 507 tonnes of urea, 484 tonnes of DAP and 10 tonnes of potash. He admitted this would not be sufficient for the coming paddy transplantation season, which begins in June and lasts until August.

In Bardiya, 42-year-old Saeed Ahmad Shesh of Dudha in ward 12 of Gulariya Municipality, has been cultivating 10 bigha (6.77 hectares) of land jointly with his brother for the past decade. With the paddy nursery season approaching, he too is desperately searching for fertiliser.

For the past week, he has been visiting cooperatives every morning to check whether fertiliser has arrived.

“It is already getting late to prepare the seed bed. We have neither irrigation water nor fertiliser,” he said. “Without water and fertiliser, we cannot sow seeds.”

He says fertiliser shortages have become an annual crisis.

“At least seeds can be bought from agro-vets,” he said. “But fertiliser has always been a headache.”

The government distributes subsidised fertiliser through cooperatives, which provide only one sack per member.

“For 10 bigha of land, the two of us together get just two sacks,” he said. “If we don’t get enough here, we have to go all the way to the Indian market.”

Ram Bali Tharu of Suhelwa in ward 5 of Gulariya, is facing similar anxiety.

He said he has been searching for fertiliser since the first week of May. Although he managed to arrange paddy seeds, fertiliser remains uncertain.

“The field is ready for planting,” he said. “But there is still no guarantee of when we will get fertiliser.”

Farmers say the pain worsens because even after enduring shortages of seeds, fertiliser and irrigation, they still fail to get fair prices for their produce. They demand that the government ensure fair pricing for agricultural products.

Aite Karki of ward 1 of Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality in Bardiya says fertiliser shortages are nothing new.

“Even after paying money, the government cannot supply fertiliser,” he said. “When it is unavailable here, we have to bring it from the Indian border market of Balaigaun.”

Cooperative owner Pahadi Chaudhary of ward 7 of Rajapur in Bardiya said he has already deposited money at Salt Trading Corporation for fertiliser but still has no certainty about when he will receive it. Chaudhary manages Ganesh Baba Agroseed Company, which supplies paddy seeds and state-subsidised fertiliser.

Since irrigation facilities are available in Rajapur, around 65 percent of farmers have already prepared seedbeds.

“I have already paid for 334 sacks of urea and DAP,” he said. “We are preparing to distribute them once the supply arrives.”

In Bardiya, 70 percent of chemical fertiliser comes through the Agriculture Inputs Company and 30 percent through Salt Trading Corporation.

Praveenjung Shah, chief of Salt Trading in Gulariya, said farmers have repeatedly demanded higher quotas, but their concerns have gone unheard.

He said subsidised fertiliser is distributed through cooperatives at fixed prices: Rs894.50 per 50-kg sack of urea, Rs2,344.50 for DAP and Rs1,744.50 for potash.

From mid-July to mid-May of the current fiscal year, 33,070 tonnes of urea were received and 31,441 tonnes distributed through designated cooperatives, Shah said. Likewise, of the 29,680 tonnes of DAP received, 27,936 tonnes have already been sold.

Farmers wandering in search of fertiliser, seeds and irrigation is not a new problem in Nepal.

Every year, as the planting season begins, farmers look anxiously toward their barren fields hoping for enough fertiliser. Authorities continue to promise supply, but when the need peaks, many farmers are forced to cross into Indian markets. Those unable to do so depend on smuggled fertiliser, which they say is expensive and often of poor quality.

In Rautahat, 61-year-old Raghunath Sah from ward 6 of Gujara Municipality said the approach of the planting season has revived his anxiety over fertiliser. The fear comes not only from shortages but from the humiliation he faced while trying to procure it last year.

After failing to obtain DAP in the district, he went to India’s Ghodasahan market and bought two sacks. While returning on his bicycle, police stopped and interrogated him like a criminal.

“They kept questioning me and even called me a smuggler,” he recalled.

Though he was eventually released after pleading at one checkpoint, he was stopped again at another police post near Katahariya.

“We are farmers trying to feed our families, not criminals,” he said.

This year too, he has been visiting various cooperatives in search of fertiliser but has still not received any.

With the start of June, paddy transplantation activities intensify across the district. Farmers must prepare seedbeds by the first or second week of May, and DAP fertiliser is considered essential for strengthening seedlings and improving soil fertility. Yet government warehouses and local markets remain empty when demand peaks.

The Agriculture Inputs Company currently holds around 171,000 tonnes of fertiliser in stock, while contracts for 94,450 tonnes are likely to be cancelled because suppliers have failed to deliver.

Nepal requires around 250,000 tonnes of fertiliser during the paddy plantation season alone, raising fears of a potential supply gap that could hit crop yields and farm incomes.

Officials say issuing fresh global tenders could take at least 225 days. This has prompted the government to seek urgent supply from India ahead of the paddy transplantation season beginning in June.

Nepal has formally requested Indian state-owned supplier Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited to provide pricing details after the Cabinet on May 4 approved the procurement plan.

“We are expecting the price list,” said Ram Krishna Shrestha, joint secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. “After receiving the price, we will review the rates and formally place the order.”

According to Shrestha, the Indian company has assured delivery within 120 days after payment. “But since it’s an emergency, we have requested a shorter delivery period,” he said.

The government earlier this month granted in-principle approval to the Agriculture Inputs Company to procure 80,000 tonnes of chemical fertiliser from India under the G2G mechanism as soaring global prices and supply uncertainties strain Nepal’s farm input system.

The one-time purchase, to be carried out under the 2022 bilateral agreement, includes 60,000 tonnes of urea and 20,000 tonnes of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP). Nepal had initially sought 150,000 tonnes, but the volume was reduced because of budget constraints.

Last year, most farmers in the district relied on fertiliser brought from India. Farmers say they are forced to smuggle it through the border because the government fails to ensure timely supply.

“We do not want to become smugglers,” said Sheikh Jabaher of Rajpur. “We are compelled because we cannot leave our fields barren.”

Farmers also say fertiliser has become more expensive and scarce in Indian markets this year due to the Iran-US conflict.

Bibek Paudel, chief of the Agriculture Inputs Company in Chandranigahapur, said 2,000 sacks of DAP are currently stored in the company warehouse but cannot be distributed until the provincial government authorises it.

Meanwhile, 5,500 sacks of DAP are sitting in Salt Trading’s warehouse in Gaur headquarters. Provincial authorities must determine quotas before distribution.

Manish Kumar Pal, spokesperson for the provincial Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, said the government delayed approval fearing traders might stockpile subsidised fertiliser and sell it later at higher prices.

“If we distribute DAP too early, others may hoard it in farmers’ names and sell it in the black market later,” he said.

Rautahat alone cultivates paddy on around 35,000 hectares.

In the hilly district of Palpa, Ganga Basyal from ward 6 of Rampur Municipality says okra planted three weeks ago has still not sprouted properly. The commercial farmer says he is worried about where to find fertiliser once the plants start growing.

Basyal cultivates around 30 ropani (1.53 hectares) of land, including leased plots. Besides shortages of fertiliser and irrigation, he says farmers also face poor market access, low prices and transport difficulties.

“Farmers are constantly burdened by one problem or another,” he said. “Sometimes there is drought, sometimes fertiliser shortages, and even when we produce crops, we do not get good prices.”

After returning from Malaysia a decade ago, he began farming bananas and later expanded into paddy, maize, wheat and commercial vegetables.

“I returned hoping to do something in my own village,” he said. “But every year, the biggest problem is not getting fertiliser when needed.”

Farmers in Rampur often have to stand in line overnight to buy chemical fertiliser. Rising fuel prices this year have worsened their hardships.

“If the government does not provide relief programmes for farmers, youth migration will continue,” he warned.

In ward 13 of Sunwal Municipality of West Nawalparasi, Krishna Bahadur Kunwar has spent the past week searching for urea and DAP. He has visited cooperatives and veterinary shops but still has not found any.

“Every year we spend weeks searching for just one sack of fertiliser,” he said. “When we finally get it, the crops are already damaged.”

Farmers in southern areas of the district say they are again being forced to bring fertiliser secretly from Indian markets.

At Sarwangin Agriculture Cooperative in Sunwal, 70 sacks of fertiliser arrived but were sold out within a single day among its 2,600 members.

In Kailali, regarded as the granary of Sudurpashchim Province, farmers preparing seedbeds are equally worried about fertiliser shortages.

Sitaram Dagoura Tharu of Bhajani Municipality-8 said he has been searching cooperatives and shops for urea.

“I could not get urea, so I planted seeds using pesticides like other villagers,” he said.

Farmers fear production will suffer if fertiliser shortages continue from the very start of planting. Tek Bahadur Bista, information officer at the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Kailali, said fertiliser supply remains the biggest challenge.

Ganesh Datt Joshi, information officer at the Agriculture Inputs Company, said stocks remain far below demand. Current reserves include 775 tonnes of urea, 215 tonnes of potash, 291 tonnes of DAP and 4.2 tonnes of K-Cisun.

“Demand is extremely high, but no new quota has arrived yet,” he said.

(Rupa Gahatraj in Banke, Ramprasad Chauhan in Bardiya, Madhav Aryal in Palpa, Nabin Poudel in Nawalparasi, Shiva Puri in Rautahat and Ranjana BC in Kailali contributed reporting.)