Officials misguide CM on fertilizer crisis

HYDERABAD: Even as agricultural activities have picked up in the kharif season due to adequate rains, farmers are facing a stiff shortage of fertilisers.But when chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy directed officials to clarify the situation in the state at a review meet held at his camp office on Wednesday, the officials of agriculture department did not hesitate to misguide him to hide the inadequate supply of fertilizers to farmers.Officials had informed him that all stock of urea, DAP and complex fertilisers were excess in supply.Despite the fact that dealers are making merry by selling fertilizers at Rs. 30 to Rs. 50 per bag which is more than the maximum retail price (MRP), officials have brushed off the complaints on shortage of fertilisers as a shorttime deficit that has occurred in one or two districts which, according to them, would be resolved in the next couple of days.While agriculture officials have declared that the Centre has allotted 39.55 lakh metric tonnes of different fertilisers for this Kharif season and juggled with the statistics, they did not inform the chief minister that the state government has received only 25.61 lakh MT in addition to the existing stock of 2.38 lakh MT of single super phosphate available in the state.“Currently, the stock supplied to the state is far less than the 37.45 lakh metric tonnes supplied during the previous Kharif season.There is a shortage of fertilisers by at least five lakh MT.Given the demand and panic amongst farmers, the crisis is likely to deepen as fresh stocks are expected to fill in only during the last week of September,” admitted a senior official in the agriculture department.Due to shortage in supply of fertilisers, dealers are exploiting the farmers in several districts by charging them exorbitantly.For instance, agriculture officials in Kadapa district have received only 67,000 MT of fertilisers as against the requirement of 2.18 lakh MT till date.As a result, each fertiliser bag is being sold for Rs. 30-Rs. 50 above the MRP.Further, farmers are lamenting that the government has supplied fertilisers manufactured by Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO), despite the fact that other fertiliser manufacturing companies like Nagarjuna, Coromandel and Godavari are the preferred varieties in the district.A similar situation prevails in other parts of the state too.In Karimnagar, district authorities have received only 50 per cent of the fertiliser stock against the requirement of 2.75 lakh metric tonnes.Farmers have also complained that though adequate stock has been supplied to headquarters of few districts, they have not been evenly distributed or supplied to the dealers till date.