With the increasing demand for urea from paddy farmers following the recent rains, officials of the Department of Agriculture have exuded confidence about supplying the adequate quantity of urea through primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACSs) in Ramanathapuram district from Wednesday.
Long queues of farmers seeking urea were seen in various PACSs in the last few days.
“We are getting 600 tonnes of urea by Wednesday that is being transported from Karaikal. Farmers can buy urea from their respective PACSs,” said Joint Director (Agriculture), Tom P. Silas.
Stating that Ramanathapuram district has cultivated paddy on 1.30 lakh hectares, he said the farmers were getting ready for the first top dressing, for which they required urea. The standing crops are aged between 40 and 50 days.
With widespread rainfall, the need for top dressing has arisen. “If there is another spell of rainfall, they might need more urea for the second dressing. With a supply plan of around 2,000 tonnes by next week, we hope to manage the situation,” he said.
All the 130 PACS would get adequate quantity of urea, as two companies from Chennai and Mangalore are supplying 500 tonnes each.
Mr. Silas said that other fertilizers like complex, were already available in the district.
Stating that all fertilizers should be sold only through point-of-sale equipment, the Joint Director said that the officials can monitor the availability of fertilizer in each shop on a real-time basis.
Besides, since the sales are based on the Aadhar card, irregularities are ruled out. Farmers need to give a one-time password to effect transactions, he added.
