Belated assurance of fertiliser adequacy
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 04, 2021 -

REGARDLESS of the agriculture minister O Lukhoi stating that over one lakh bags of urea fertilisers had been made available to farmers of the state, the ground reality seems starkly different as is evident from individual food producers and farmers' groups voicing remorse over shortage of the essential agricultural component when they are most needed.

Like several other organisations, including civil societies whose activities are irrelevant to the agricultural sector, Maharaj Mangyamba Multipurpose Livestock cum Agriculture and Social Forestry Cooperative Society Limited is yet another organisation to urge the government to ensure adequate availability of fertilisers to the farmers thereby indicating repetition of the same old tale of the farmers facing official apathy.

Restrictions being imposed to contain the virulent second wave of Covid-19 might be one of the reasons for the farmers unable to acquire fertilisers and their inability to apply the same in theirfield on time but the problem of shortage of fertiliser or failure to ensure uniform distribution cropping up during the prime agricultural season implies that the department officials are yet to digest the importance of adequate stockpiling and timely provision of fertiliser.

For long there have been slanderous remarks that the agriculture department officials are excessively infatuated with drawing up agricultural plans on the table, sanctioning projects and seeking publicity rather than putting their expertise and experience to practice in the field.

That such contentions have some valid points could be comprehended from the state continuing to import food-grains and the officials making it a point to grab public attention over sporadic exporting of a few tonnes of organic agricultural and horticultural produces.

If at all the agriculture department cannot deliver its service to every farmer no matter how challenging the situation might be, then it is obvious that its existence would be seen as serving the interest of its few hundred employees only.

When farmers are compelled to line up in serpentine queues for hours for a single bag of urea fertiliser at the district headquarters instead of working in the fields, it is hard to believe that the department has been working diligently.

Contrary to the statement of minister Lukhoi thata total of 1,78,093 bags of urea fertilizers have so farbeen distributed to the farmers through the Departmentof Agriculture, reports of many farmers returning home dejected due to exhaustion of urea stock tell of a different tale.

The department might now be in a position to ensure adequate availability of fertilizers in the state but such an arrangement seems too late as many farmers have already procured the same from the black market for they had to apply fertilisers within a specific timeframe.

It must be noted that urea fertilisers allotted for Manipur were not lifted for nearly two months after tRey were despatched till the Jiribam railway station/With the paddy crop plantation season already affected due to scarcity of rainfall, the farmers being made to struggle for weeks to grab a bag of fertiliser is akin to rubbing salt to their wound.

If the department could not live up to the expectation of the farmers then there is no way Manipur could overcome the dependency syndrome.