Farmers line up for urea, officials deny shortage

KOTA:At OFFICIAL SAYS THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF UREA AT THE DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS AND AREAS FALLING UNDER CANAL IRRIGATION IN HADOTI REGION

a time when Rajasthan is gearing up for the assembly polls, farmers in Hadoti region are queued up for urea in peak Rabi sowing period.

Joint director agriculture, Ramavatar Sharma said there is no shortage of urea at the district headquarters and areas falling under canal irrigation in Hadoti region. But farmers have to queue up for urea in remote areas of Hadoti region.

“Around 48,000 metric tonne of urea was sold in Hadoti region till November end last year while around 98,000 metric tonne of urea has been sold this year so far which proves that there is no crunch of urea this year,” he said.

However, Ramavtar Meena, a 45-year-old farmer of Gudla village of Pipalda assembly constituency said he had to queue up for three days to procure 10 gunny bags of urea (each gunny bag carries 45 kg ) from the Kray Vikray Sahkari Samiti (sale purchase cooperative committee).

“My village is around 40 km away from the Itawa town where urea is sold by Kray Vikray Sahkari Samiti. I had to stay for three days with my tractor to buy the organic compound,” he said. “There is acute shortage of urea which is required in mustard cultivation” he said.

Another villager of Balupa village of Pipalda constituency, Ramlakhan Meena (40) said, “Due to crunch in the government supply of urea at Kray Vikray Sahkari Samiti, I was forced to buy urea from private dealers where I paid Rs 320 - Rs 285 for 45 kg urea bag instead of the government rate of Rs 266 per bag.”

Such is the dismal state of farmers who are forced to queue up for urea purchase in remote areas of Hadoti region including Baran, Bundi, Jhalawar and Kota. The area for Rabi crop cultivation spans across 11 hectares in Hadoti.

General secretary of Hadoti Kisan union, Dashrath Kumar said, “Urea crisis has added to the woes of farmers who have been victims of farm distress over the recent years after failing to get due prices for their produce.”

“Instead of the upcoming assembly polls, our focus lies on sowing Rabi crop and meeting the requirement of urea,” he said.

Kumar further added that the government has failed to provide adequate urea to the farmers in the poll bound state.

“Farmers need urea till March for Rabi crops. Apprehensive over shortage of the organic compound, farmers have been procuring urea to stock it for future,” he said.