Cultivated area down by 10 lakh acres due to monsoon delay
PNS|Hyderabad
This year the area under cultivation has decreased by 10 lakh acres due to the delay in the monsoon, said Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy.
He held a high-level review of fertilizer supply and stock at the Secretariat on Saturday attended by Agriculture Secretary Raghunandan Rao, Special Commissioner Hanmanthu, Horticulture Director Hanmantha Rao, Marketing Director Lakshmibai, Additional Director Vijay Kumar, Joint Director (Fertilizers) Ramulu and others.
“There is no shortage of urea in the state. If artificial scarcity is created action will be taken. Farmers need not worry.
There is an allocation of 9.14 lakh tonnes of urea for this monsoon season.
So far 7.78 lakh tonnes of urea has been supplied. 2.15 lakh tonnes of urea advance stock is available as of March 31,” the Minister said.
He said that the quantity of urea made available so far this season is 9.93 lakh tonnes. The current reserves in the state are 2.50 lakh tonnes.
“At present, there is no shortage of fertilizers in the state. Urea is being supplied through 908 Primary Agricultural Co-operative Societies and 16,615 authorised dealers. An attempt is being made to create an artificial shortage of urea in four primary agricultural cooperative societies in the combined Nalgonda district and to give the impression that urea is not available in the state. This is not a lack of understanding but is a malicious attempt. We will investigate the cooperative societies and take action,” he said.
On Friday, 15,838 tonnes of urea was procured in the state, he said.
