Urea supplies improved this month, says Tummala
Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said that the urea supply to the state in September was a great relief to the farmers. A total of 7.88 lakh metric tons of urea was received by the state from April to September, of which 1.84 lakh metric tons were supplied in September alone, he said. Farmers faced difficulties due to less than the allocated urea supply every month last month, but the state government repeatedly explained the problems faced by farmers to the Center, and therefore, additional urea was supplied this month.
He reminded that only 1.21 out of 1.71 lakh metric tons were supplied in April, 0.88 out of 1.61 lakh metric tons in May, 0.98 out of 1.70 lakh metric tons in June, 1.43 out of 1.60 lakh metric tons in July, and 1.55 out of 1.70 lakh metric tons in August. He explained that the delay in import tenders, the negative impact on imports due to the uncertain international situation, and the inability of the Center to provide sufficient urea to the states have caused difficulties for the farmers.
In this context, he said that the state government has made continuous efforts to meet the needs of the farmers without hesitation. The Minister said that the Chief Minister himself met the Union Ministers, held meetings with the Centre, our MPs protested and submitted petitions in the Parliament premises, and the officials held continuous consultations with the officials of the Central Fertilizer Department, which led to the Centre finally responding positively and supplying additional urea this month.
The State Government had requested the Centre to provide urea in the month of August itself to make up for the deficit that had arisen till then, along with the September allocation, and accordingly, the State had received 1.84 lakh metric tonnes by the 25th instead of the 1.60 lakh metric tonnes allocated in the month of September. He said that this is a relief to the farmers. In addition to the urea already received, another 9,864 metric tonnes and 9,674 metric tonnes of urea will be received by the State today and tomorrow from CIL, IPL-Gangavaram, NFL-Vizag, IPL-Jupiter, IFFCO, Narmada, NBCL-Symphony, and SPIC companies, respectively.
He explained that this urea will reach the railway rake points of Warangal, Mancherial, Gadwal, Karimnagar, Pandillapalli, Jadcharla, and Thimmapur, and from there it will be supplied to the districts. Moreover, there is a plan to rake another 34,700 metric tons of urea from NFL - Mangala, CIL -Grace, IPL-Gangavara-Jupiter, IPL-Rek Grace, SPIC, KRIBHCO, IPL-Jupiter, NBCL-Wadi, and CIL-Ruby companies, which is likely to reach the state by the end of this month. Keeping in mind the sales of 9.30 lakh metric tons of urea at the same time in the last Kharif season, the Minister said that 9.50 lakh metric tons have been supplied to the districts so far this year.
Especially in this season, 1 lakh metric tons of urea were sold more than last year in the month of July, which has increased the needs of farmers, but at that time, farmers faced some difficulties due to a limited supply from the center. However, he said that the state government has been able to distribute more urea to the districts this time than at the same time last year. For example, 5,000 metric tons were supplied to Nalgonda district, 3,200 metric tons to Peddapalli, 2,580 metric tons to Karimnagar, and 1,600 metric tons to Wanaparthy, more than last year.