Guntur: Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar advised farmers not to panic unnecessarily about the supply of urea in the district and avoid stockpiling more than required. He instructed agricultural officers to create wide awareness at the field level.

He along with joint collector Ashutosh Srivastava and MLA Burla Ramamjaneyulu reviewed agricultural issues with the officials at the Collectorate on Wednesday. He reviewed urea distribution to farmers, soil testing, e-crop booking, and the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Dr Pemmasani said that there were no problems with urea in the district and that supply to farmers was happening smoothly. Against the kharif season requirement of 24,000 metric tonnes of urea, 26,000 metric tonnes had already been supplied, he said. He mentioned that due to heavy rains and misconceptions about supply, some farmers stored more urea in advance than necessary. Currently, urea is sufficiently available, and additional stocks are also on the way. To further improve supply in future, off-season procurement through Markfed will be arranged.

Regarding soil health, he said that 13,000 soil tests had been conducted as per the district’s target. Farmers reported some difficulties in the process and in receiving timely results. To address this, he assured that steps would be taken to procure equipment for conducting soil tests at the village level itself and providing immediate results, in coordination with the National Soil Health Mission. On e-crop booking, Dr Pemmasani said that only 58% of the target had been completed so far and directed the Joint Collector to ensure 100% completion. Earlier, he inaugurated Swasth Nari Sasakth Parivar Abhiyan programme at the Guntur Medical College here. Speaking on this occasion, he urged women to avail facilities of medical camps under this scheme.