Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday asked the officials to be well prepared for the ensuing agriculture season with adequate quantities of seeds and fertilizers besides crop loans and input subsidy.
The Chief Minister asked the officials to ensure that farmers are not put to any hardships. He also asked the officials to take stringent action against black-marketeers and hoarders of seeds and fertilizers. He directed the officials to keep adequate stocks of seeds and fertilizers readily available to meet the demand. He also wanted the officials to conduct field level visits frequently so as to ensure that problems of the farmers are solved immediately.
The Chief Minister issued these instructions while reviewing the preparedness of the agriculture department with the officials at the camp office on Wednesday. He asked the officials to keep enough stocks of groundnut, soya bean, rice, cotton, millets and other seeds readily available and ensure that there is no shortage. He felt that shortage of cotton seed was due to the demand of the farmers with regard to one particular company. The farmers should be educated about the fact that more than 36 companies are producing 100 different types of seeds of the same quality.
Officials informed the Chief Minister that while the estimated demand for cotton seeds is 1.20 crore packets, 1.27 crore packets have already been readily kept in the districts of Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam, Nalgonda and Adilabad. They also informed that vigilance raids have been stepped up in those areas where there is every likelihood of seeds being sold in black market. Farmers are also being educated about different types of cotton seeds available in the market.
For the present Khariff-2012, over 14.8 lakh quintals of different types of seeds have been kept under the disposal of State Seeds Development Corporation, Oilfed, Markfed and HACA. In all, 3.10 lakh quintals of seeds have been distributed so far. Of the allocated 8 lakh quintal groundnut seeds, 2.65 lakh quintals have been distributed so far. Distribution is picking up in the districts of Chittoor and Anantapur. 73,000 quintals of soya seeds, 46,000 quintals of green manure seeds, 1.12 lakh quintals seeds of rice, millets and other seeds have also been kept available. 50 per cent of seed distribution has already been completed, officials said.
During the present Khariff season, plans have been formulated to distribute 41.55 lakh matric tonnes of different types of fertilizers. 34.26 lakh matric tonnes have been utilized during last Khariff season. 5.38 Lakh matric tonnes fertilizers have been distributed so far. Officials informed that one lakh matric tonnes DAP, another one lakh tonnes complex fertilizers and 2 lakh matric tonnes urea have been kept at the disposal of APMARKFED which is the nodal agency. Railways have been coordinated to ensure that fertilizers are transported in time. Steps are being taken to ensure that fertilizers reach their destination from different ports and agencies where fertilizers are stocked.
Fertilizer monitoring cell has been constituted to monitor the fertilizer stocks and their supply at the central office. Similar cells have also been set up at the district level. Vigilance has been stepped up at the state borders and other sensitive areas to monitor the transport of fertilizers. The State Government is in constant touch with the Union Fertilizers Ministry and monitoring the availability of the fertilizer supply through video Conference every Friday.
Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi, Principal Secretary (Agriculture) Nagi Reddy, Agriculture Commissioner Madhusudan Raoand other senior officials attended the meeting. (INN)