The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Tiruchi News : Steps taken to ensure adequate supply of fertilizer

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Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Steps taken to ensure adequate supply of fertilizer

Special Correspondent

Agriculture Commissioner S. Kosalaraman says there will be no shortage

TIRUCHI: Steps have been taken to ensure adequate supply of fertilizer for the samba season, Agriculture Commissioner S. Kosalaraman has said.

There will be no shortage of fertilizer, he said at a press conference here on Wednesday. Samba paddy was raised on 3.79 lakh tonnes in the Cauvery delta region, he said.

Providing details of the fertilizer stock position, Mr. Kosalaraman said that while the State’s requirement of urea during November was 1.36 lakh tonnes, 1.13 lakh tonnes had been supplied, and 40,000 tonnes was available. The State’s requirement of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) was 54,840 tonnes, and 470 tonnes had already been supplied. About 36,900 tonnes was available, and another 15,000 tonnes supplied by Indian Potash Limited had arrived at Tuticorin.

Mr. Kosalaraman said agri clinics would be established in all blocks by the end of the next financial year. During this year, agri clinics were to be established in 224 blocks, and about 170 candidates had applied for establishing the clinics with the subsidy provided under the National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP). The candidates were being trained by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University; so far eight clinics had been started. The clinics would serve as a one-stop shop for farmers to meet their technology and input requirements.

Tamil Nadu was allotted Rs.185 crore during 2007-08 under the NADP, and various schemes, including agriculture mechanisation, precision farming and micro-irrigation, were being implemented through the Agriculture, Horticulture, Agricultural Engineering and Agri Marketing Departments.

Referring to the restructuring of the Agriculture Department, Mr. Kosalaraman said 1,707 assistant agriculture officers would soon be recruited through the employment exchanges. Written tests had been conducted for recruiting 520 agriculture officers.

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