Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena, along with senior officials from Department of Fertilisers at the Centre, reviewed the fertilizer availability in Andhra Pradesh with senior officials from department of Agriculture from the state and fertilizer manufacturers and suppliers.
Special Chief Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Rachel Chatterjee and Commissioner of Agriculture Sunil Sharma explained to the Minister about the favourable seasonal conditions prevailing in the state for the current Rabi 2010-11 in view of the bountiful rains received in the state during Kharif 2010 and the abundant availability of water from all the reservoir in the state. They made an appeal to the minister to allocate 11 lakh MTs of complex fertilizers instead of 9 lakh MTS approved by DoF, in view of the favourable seasonal conditions.
Mr Jena assured the state government that all out efforts are being made by the Department of Fertilisers to make this vital agriculture input available to the state in time.
He advised all the fertilizer suppliers operating in the state to move the fertilizers to the districts well in advance as per the supply plan given by respective companies. Mr Jena also directed the companies to supply the fertilizers on delivery basis directly to dealer/retailer point, so that the fertilizers are available at right place, right time, right quantities and at right price.
He appealed to the industry to ensure that the farmers get fertilizers at the retail prices fixed by the government/companies through their dealer network. The companies should monitor this aspect and take action against the dealers who indulge in black marketing of fertilizers.
Mr Jena pointed out that Government of India is spending more than Rs. 80,000 crore on fertilizer subsidy annually and in case price line is not maintained at farmers level, the purpose of subsidy will be lost.
He informed the state government officials that the availability of complex fertilizers in the country and overseas is limited and requested them to explore the possibility of making the fertilizer mixtures of the required grades from the indigenously available Urea, DAP and MOP.
The Minister also explained about the process going on for revival of fertilizer unit located at Ramagundam located in Karimnagar district. He also advised the officials from DoF to write to the concerned ministries for giving priority for berthing of vessels containing fertilizers at all ports and also for providing more number of rakes for moving the materials from ports to the required destinations in time. He assured the state government officials that all the fertilizers as per the requirement will be made available to the state in time.