Fertilizer Crisis Claims Two Lives as Madhya Pradesh Farmers Face Critical Shortage

Fifty-year-old farmer Jamuna Kushwaha passed away on Monday while waiting in line for fertilizer, highlighting the severe agricultural crisis unfolding in Madhya Pradesh.

The fertilizer shortage across Madhya Pradesh has reached critical levels, pushing farmers to extreme desperation. This crisis has already claimed two lives within a two-week period and sparked widespread protests, road blockades, and heated political disputes throughout the region.

In Tikamgarh district, farmer Jamuna Kushwaha, aged 50, died on Monday after enduring three consecutive days in a fertilizer queue at the Badoraghat distribution center. This tragedy follows closely behind another death in late November, when 50-year-old Bhruiya Bai succumbed after waiting for two days at a fertilizer distribution center in Guna district. These incidents have exposed significant failures in the system and raised urgent questions about the government's management of urea distribution.

Kushwaha, who resided in Kari Bajarua village, had been desperately trying to obtain just two bags of urea for his crops. On the fatal day, he arrived at the distribution center without having eaten, hoping his third day of waiting would finally yield results. Around noon, he collapsed in the queue after vomiting and was immediately transported to a district hospital in a government vehicle. Unfortunately, doctors pronounced him dead at 3:00 pm, with postmortem results attributing his death to a heart attack.

His son shared with profound grief, "He kept searching for fertilizer everywhere and died waiting for it." Kushwaha's younger brother alleged that the continuous queueing and stress from being unable to secure needed fertilizer had severely compromised his health.

Tikamgarh District Development Authority officer Ashok Sharma stated that 19,000 tons of urea have already been distributed, with an additional request for 2,800 tons submitted. He claimed, "There is no information about any death at the Badoraghat center. Fertilizer is being given according to dates on tokens."

These official statements are strongly contested by farmers, who report that tokens are not being issued fairly, queues extend for several hours, and many farmers return home empty-handed despite days of waiting.

The situation across Tikamgarh has deteriorated significantly. In Kharagpur, hundreds of farmers blocked a major highway on Monday to protest the acute shortage of fertilizer, causing traffic to back up for kilometers and spreading chaos throughout the area.

Reports from some districts indicate desperate farmers have resorted to looting fertilizer stocks, while others have locked cooperative society gates in anger. The crisis has ignited intense political confrontations in Sheopur, Tikamgarh, and neighboring districts.

BJP representatives maintain that the state has sufficient fertilizer stocks and accuse the Congress party of "spreading confusion" about the situation.

Congress leaders counter that the BJP is deliberately ignoring the reality on the ground. District Congress President Reena Ashish Meena stated, "Farmers are standing in lines for 7-8 days. People are dying, but BJP leaders claim everything is normal. They should change their glasses because the pain of farmers is visible on every road, in every village."