Sambalpur: Even as a shortage of urea has hit farming in Sambalpur, the specter of drought has panicked farmers in parts of the district. Alleging irregularities in urea supply and demanding drought declaration in the district, hundreds of farmers Friday staged protests in front of the collectorate here.
As cooperative societies do not have adequate stocks of urea, farmers have to go through a tough time at the peak of farming season. Black-marketing of urea has made things difficult for them, they lamented.
Farmers alleged that a packet of urea is officially priced at Rs 267 but some traders and dealers sell it for Rs 600 to Rs 700 in the market while the administration is taking no action.
“We had alerted the administration and the agriculture department about the shortage of urea in August and September when urea is highly required by them. The officials and dealers have forged a nexus to create a shortage in the open market,” they said.
Farmer leaders demanded that the agriculture department and the administration give them accounts of the urea supplied to the district.
Murari Purohit, president of Zilla Krushak Sangathan, slammed the state government, saying it is not really thinking of farmers’ welfare when the state is heading towards a drought situation.
“Rain has vanished. Farmlands are dry while saplings are dying. Seeding, sowing and transplantation works have already been affected. Despite this , what steps the government has taken to alleviate the sufferings of farmers,” farmers asked.
“The government should declare the district drought-affected and steps should be taken to remove short supply of urea. Only two packets of urea are provided to a farmer per acre,” he added.
Primary agriculture cooperative societies and large area primary agriculture cooperative societies give not more than 20 packets of urea to a farmer.
Ashok Pradhan, convener of Paschima Odisha Krushak Sangathan, among others, warned of agitation and meetings at the panchayat level.
PNN