Odisha seeks more allocation of fertilisers

Bhubaneswar, Feb 17 (IANS) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday urged the Centre to increase allocation of fertilisers to the state to safeguard the interest of farming community.

"Taking into account the cropping pattern and soil fertility level, it is estimated that the ideal fertiliser consumption for the state would be about 126 kg per hectare (Ha). But due to inadequate allocation and supply of fertilisers, the state has not been able to achieve the desired level of fertiliser consumption," said the chief minister in a letter to union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

He said that while the allocation of fertilisers itself remains low compared to the demand, the state receives only about 80 percent of the urea, especially during the Kharif season.

He said Odisha with an average fertiliser consumption of only 57 kg per Hectare lags much behind the national average of 127 kg per Ha during 2013-14. Drawing a comparison of Odisha with states having almost equivalent extent of gross cropped area like West Bengal, Bihar and Punjab, Patnaik said allocation of fertilisers to those states is much higher.

"Such discrepancy in the allocation of fertilisers is more pronounced in the case of urea," he added.

Patnaik also complained to the Centre about not getting fertilisers during the schedule to match the peak demand period resulting in scarcity of fertilisers.

He said the Odisha government has taken up several innovative steps for strengthening the fertiliser distribution system in the state.

"We have created a corpus fund of Rs.100 crore for pre-positioning of fertilizers through state agencies like MARKFED and OAIC. Besides, steps have been taken to construct new storage godowns at the district level. All these measures would certainly help in improving the availability of fertilizers and consumption," said the chief minister.