A consignment of 2,641 tonnes of fertilizers arrived here on Tuesday from the factory of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) at Paradeep in Orissa. The consignment comprised 1,316 tonnes of DAP and 1,325 tonnes of IFFCOPhos NPK fertiliser 20-20-013 for the benefit of farmers raising samba paddy.
The DAP and fertiliser would be sent to 250 primary agricultural cooperative credit societies in Tiruchi, Perambalur, Karur, Ariyalur, Thanjavur and Pudukottai besides State warehouses, said D. Subramanian, Chief Area Manager, IFFCO, Tiruchi Region, who made the arrangements for the despatch of fertiliser and urea.
He said that a major portion of the consignment, about 1,500 tonnes (of both urea and NPK put together), was being sent to Tiruchi, Ariyalur, Karur and Perambalur as there was not much demand for it in the other two districts of Thanjavur and Pudukottai. Mr. Subramanian said that the prompt supply aimed at ensuring timely availability of fertiliser and urea to samba farmers. However, the IFFCO had taken up a series of awareness programmes for sensitising farmers to the importance of focussing on improving soil fertility. It has taken up a village level campaign during the samba season when farmers would be motivated to restrict the use of fertiliser. He also disclosed that IFFCO had reduced the price of IFFCOPhos from Rs. 875 to Rs. 850 for a bag of 50 kg.
