In a memorandum submitted to Parliamentary Standing Committee, LOUSHAL demanded constitution of an inquiry committee on mismanagement of urea fertilizer distribution so as to enforce a farmers-friendly system. LOUSHAL urged the authorities to allot only the required quantum of urea to the state as most parts of the hill areas are being used for illegal poppy cultivation.
TFM Desk
Amidst the artificial chemical fertilizer (urea) scarcity being faced by the farmers of Manipur, the Loumee Shinmee Apun Lup (LOUSHAL), a farmers’ body, submitted a representation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India who landed in Imphal on Wednesday.
LOUSHAL urged the committee to constitute an inquiry committee to probe into the mismanagement of urea fertilizer distribution in Manipur. The enquiry committee’s findings and recommendations would ensure the enforcement of a farmer-friendly urea distribution system. This will also warrant the allotment of only the required quantum of urea to the state as most parts of the hill areas are now being used for illegal poppy plantations.
The representation also gave necessary data on agricultural land, as per the Agriculture and Horticulture Department, Government of Manipur.
There are 1,95,000 hectares of existing paddy land in the state (hills and valley); area used for jhuming and terrace cultivation in hill area — 88,820 hectares (which does not require urea fertilizer); area covered in valley for organic cultivation by Manipur Organic Mission Agency — 9,000 hectares (which does not require urea fertilizer); waterlogging area in valley area — 20,000 hectares (which does not require urea fertilizer); and area of existing paddy land in the valley — 77,180 hectares (which require urea fertilizer).
In the representation, LOUSHAL said that the actual urea requirement for kharif crops (paddy cultivation) of the state is currently 2,31,540 bags or 10.42 tons of urea. Although the state’s demand for urea was for the existing paddy land in the state (1,95,000 hectares), the union government allotted 4,40,000 bags which is more than double the requirement.
“However, urea is not available to all the farmers of the state till now and they faced lots of hardships to procure a bag of urea from the department. In this pretext, a farmer from Imphal East died and one was severely injured due to a road mishap while going to stand in a queue to get urea at the DC Office, Porompat, Imphal East”, said LOUSHAL in the representation.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee led by Karunanidhi Kanimozhi comprises seven MPs each from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha reportedly held a closed-door meeting at Hotel Classic Grande, Imphal on Wednesday. Representatives of fertilizer companies, officials of the state agriculture department, and farmers attended the meeting. The meeting reportedly delved into the present fertilizer crisis being faced by the farmers of the state.
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