Shortage of Urea: Gujarat asks Pawar to intervene

New Delhi, Dec 22 (UNI) Gujarat Agriculture Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama today said the state faced shortage of urea fertiliser to achieve the target of cultivation in 39 lakh hectares and urged Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to intervene in the matter to tide over the crisis.

''Gujarat is facing an acute shortage of urea fertiliser, and it will adversely affect the agriculture production in the state, particularly during the Rabi season, making it difficult to achieve the target of cultivation in 39 lakh hectares,'' Mr Chudasma said while addressing a conference of State Agriculture Ministers here.

Pointing out that the target was set by Mr Pawar himself for Gujarat, he said the state had not been able to receive the sanctioned quota of two lakh M T of urea by various agencies of the Central government.

He said the Union Agriculture Ministry had already approved the request of the Gujarat government, but due to its non-availability, farmers in the state had to suffer.

The conference has been organised to discuss the recommendations made by the National Commission on Farmers.

Mr Chudasama appealed to Mr Pawar to direct the agencies concerned to supply sanctioned quantity of two lakh MT of urea fertiliser to the state immediately in the interest of the farmers.

He said Gujarat had achieved last year's target for cultivation in 28 lakh hectares of land. ''This year also, cultivation has been done in 28 lakh hectares, but shortage of urea is proving to be a major impediment in achieving the target of 39 lakh hectares.'' Dr M S Swaminathan, who is the chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, had recently visited Gujarat and expressed satisfaction over some of the innovative initiatives taken by the state government, such as ''Krishi Mahotsav' and 'Soil Health Card System'.

Recalling the visit of Dr Swaminathan, Mr Chudasma also congratulated Mr Pawar for acting swiftly on the National Agricultural Policy for farmers.

The minister pointed out that the budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector was ''very small'' and suggested that it should be hiked.

''Initiatives like market linkage, R&D and transfer of technology in agriculture will require more resources,'' he said, adding that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme required to be streamlined.

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