Bhubaneswar: Amidst resentment among farmers over alleged scarcity of fertilisers in the state, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik Saturday sought the Centre’s intervention in the matter and demanded adequate supply of urea during the current kharif season.
Patnaik’s appeal came following reports of farmers hitting the streets to press their demand for adequate supply of fertilisers in southern Odisha districts of Malkangiri, Ganjam and Nabarangpur.
Their protest in Malkangiri led to the disruption of traffic movement on the National Highway-326 Friday.
However, Odisha’s Food and Supplies Minister K C Patra ridiculed Patnaik for writing a letter to the Centre and demanding more fertilisers for the state.
“There is no scarcity of fertilisers in the state,” Patra said.
The minister also recalled how Patnaik had written a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last year when there was irregularity in potato supply from the eastern state.
“Everybody knows what happened to his letter to WB Chief Minister. Now, there is no need to write a letter to the Centre for fertilisers,” he told reporters.
The minister further claimed that farmers are satisfied with the BJP government, which hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy to Rs 3,100 per quintal.
“Farmers who stopped cultivation during BJD government, now see a future in farming under the Mohan Charan Majhi government,” he claimed.
Earlier in the day, the former Chief Minister in a letter to Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister JP Nadda requested him to “take necessary steps for adequate supply of urea to Odisha during this kharif season in the larger interest of the farming community”.
Noting that agriculture is the “mainstay of Odisha’s economy, which provides livelihood to more than 70 per cent of its population”, the BJD chief said the state’s growth in the agricultural sector has been spectacular over the past two decades.
“From a mere importer of rice, Odisha has transformed itself into a major contributor to the country’s public distribution system,” he mentioned in the letter.
Patnaik said Odisha has become self-sufficient in rice production, and this was possible because of the use of technology and adequate supply of inputs.
Fertiliser is a major input to agricultural production, and its smooth supply is very crucial for crop growth during the kharif season, he said.
The former Chief Minister pointed out that the farmers of Odisha are now “facing a major problem in obtaining urea during this ongoing kharif season”.
“Short supply of urea along with its black marketing and adulteration is a major concern for our farmers,” he claimed.
“In many districts, particularly in tribal districts, farmers are on an agitation path due to the non-availability of urea. If not addressed timely, it may cause serious disruption of farm activities, which will impact production and also affect the livelihood of farmers,” he said.
Though the state government claims to have 7.94 lakh tonne of urea, farmers are struggling to get the fertiliser, he alleged.
“Urea is being sold illegally at a higher price than the government-approved rate across Odisha. Markfed, the government’s designated distribution agency, is supplying subsidised fertiliser to private traders instead of farmers,” Patnaik alleged.
“Despite lower fertiliser use in Odisha, supply chain mismanagement and corruption have pushed our farmers to the edge,” Patnaik claimed, adding that the delay in the commissioning of the Talcher fertiliser plant, whose foundation stone was laid in 2018, is also a concern.
It was promised that the facility would be functional in 36 months, but seven years later, it remains nonoperational, he pointed out.
Keeping in view the farmers’ unrest and scarcity of fertiliser, Patnaik said the need of the hour is an immediate “crackdown on black marketing and punishment of guilty dealers and officials associated with fertiliser distribution through cooperative societies”.
Hundreds of farmers in Malkangiri gathered at Mathili Large Area Multipurpose Cooperative Society for fertilisers, but the massive turnout caused traffic disruptions on the National Highway-326 Friday, police said.
While only 1,200 bags of fertilisers were available at the LAMPS centre, the number of farmers was around 10 times, local officials said.
The distribution was held through a token system, which allowed one farmer to get just one bag of urea, which they alleged was “grossly inadequate” to their requirement.
The farmers also claimed that the majority of the government supply was diverted to the black market.
Deputy Chief Minister KV Deo, who is in charge of the agriculture and farmer empowerment department, said stringent action would be taken against dealers found indulging in black marketing of fertilisers.
Senior BJD leader and former agriculture minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, however, warned the state’s BJP government that his party would launch a statewide agitation if the fertiliser scarcity is not met immediately.
“BJD will not tolerate negligence to farmers. This is because, the BJD government during its tenure ensured Odisha emerge as a rice surplus state,” Sahoo said.
PTI
