Urea Shortage: State blames Centre, urges farmers to use alternatives

Agriculture Minister Nageswara Rao blamed the Centre for a 3-lakh-tonne urea shortfall, urged farmers to use alternatives, and announced strict monitoring, token-based distribution, and action against black marketing and misuse

Hyderabad: Amid a severe urea and fertiliser crisis, Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao urged farmers to utilise alternatives like nano urea, DAP, MOP, and biofertilizers. He directed the Agriculture department officials to promote it widely and encourage farmers in this regard. He also appealed to farmers not to resort to panic buying.

In a video conference with District Collectors, Superintendents of Police and Agriculture officials on urea and fertiliser stocks in the State, Nageswara Rao said the Centre allocated over 8.3 lakh tonnes of urea between April and August, but supplied 5.32 lakh tonnes, leading to nearly 3 lakh tonnes of deficit. This shortfall had hampered timely distribution to farmers during the cropping season, he claimed.

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The Minister directed the district officials to strictly monitor existing stocks in godowns and ensure transparent, mandal-wise allocation with priority to small and marginal farmers. He advised issuing tokens to avoid confusion and warned against diversion of urea for non-agricultural or industrial use.

Task force teams would be set up to curb black marketing, hoarding and inter-state smuggling, he said, also asking officials to conduct inspections of private dealers selling at inflated prices and industrial units suspected of misusing subsidised urea.