State gets relief as 27,640 MT urea to arrive in the next four days

In a major relief to the State government which drew flak from the opposition over the shortage of urea, the State is set to receive 27,650 metric tonnes of urea in the next four days.

The State had received urea to the tune of 11,930 metric tonnes on Friday and this was preceded by receipt of 23,000 metric tonnes in the last couple of days, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said. The Minister directed the department officials to reiterate the plea to the Central government to revive the fertilizer factory at Ramagundam and said the State government took necessary steps to ensure continuous supply of urea in the interests of farmers. Several major firms, including RCF, CIL and KRIBHCO, supplied urea to the State in the past couple of days and fertilizers supplied by firms like FSFC, IPL, MCFL and others would reach the State in the coming days.

Eleven rakes carrying urea are on their way to the State and the commodity would reach Miryalaguda, Karimnagar, Mancherial, Peddapally and other destinations soon. Another eleven rakes were planned to carry urea to the State till next Thursday. The fertilizers on arrival would be dispatched to districts from the rake points in the next couple of days.

Arrangements had been made for hassle free transport of urea/fertilisers to district level and officials have been directed to set up sale points at Rythu Vedikas and other points to ensure that farmers secure the commodity at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tummala Nageswara Rao announced that the State government was prepared to work in close coordination with the ICRISAT for development of agriculture sector. He was interacting with a delegation of ICRISAT which called on him on Friday. The delegation explained the Minister about the agricultural technologies being utilised by the institution as also the ways by which the sector could be strengthened by the active collaboration of the State government and ICRISAT. ICRISAT on its part had agreed to support the State with necessary technological inputs for development of the farm sector in the State and urged the State government to take steps to enhance participation of the institution in agricultural research.

The Minister also met a delegation of representatives from a Netherlands-based artificial intelligence firm. Mr. Nageswara Rao requested the firm to develop an App leveraging available technologies to guide farmers in overcoming their problems. He directed the department officials to work out modalities fore developing a one-stop solution for farmers’ issues in collaboration with experts in artificial intelligence.