January 12: None of the Nepali companies that had bagged the contract to import fertilizers have fulfilled their obligation. The companies that have failed to import chemical fertilizers do not have prior experience of bringing fertilizers to the country. This year, the government had awarded contracts to new companies for importing chemical fertilizers.

All six contracts awarded to the local companies of Nepal are nowhere near completion.

According to the state-owned Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, Shailung Enterprisies had bagged three separate contracts to import a total of 80,000 metric tons of urea within the last nine months. Likewise, Muktinath Agriculture Company was awarded the contracts during the start of the current fiscal year to import 25,000 metric tons of urea and 30,000 metric tons of DAP. The deadlines of all these contracts have already expired.

The first two contracts of Shailung Enterprises expired in August/September and October/November respectively. Likewise, its third contract also expired in November /December. Similarly, the deadlines for Muktinath Agcitulture Company to import the fertilizers were December 3 and 4.

According to the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr Shree Ram Ghimire, the companies failed to import fertilizers because they did not have any previous experience in this field.

“These companies have not been able to penetrate into the international market. Because of this, the farmers had to suffer a lot,” said Ghimire.

Ghimire said that the government awarded the contracts to these two companies despite being aware of their status and lack of experience because they had submitted proposals in response to a global tender quoting the lowest amount. He said that the ministry is holding discussions to avoid similar problem in the future.

The Agriculture Inputs Company Limited has confiscated the deposit of Shailung Enterprises for its failure to import the fertilizer.