Some of the cooperative society outlets and private shops selling fertilizers were not displaying stock position and price list, complained participants at the monthly farmers’ grievance day meeting held at the Collectorate here on Friday.
Collector L. Subramanian replied that teams of farmers and agriculture officials who carried out periodical inspections of those outlets would take note of the situation.
Of the 169 cooperative society outlets stocking fertilizers in the district, eight did not display stock position, said Muthupeyyandi, a farmer from Chellampatti block and a member of the inspection committee.
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Reading out the stock position, the Collector said that there was adequate stock of fertilizers in all outlets, and asked the farmers to inform the officials if they found anything to the contrary. “As of Friday, there are 623 tonnes of urea in Primary Agricultural Cooperative Bank (PACB) outlets and shops in the district and there is a buffer stock of 55 tonnes at the godown of Tamil Nadu Cooperative Marketing Federation (TANFED),” he said.
Speaking about the inspection units, Vadivel Kumar, Assistant Director (Quality Control) of Agriculture Department, said 13 teams at the block level were undertaking inspections and read out the names of members from each block. “So far, 56 private shops have been issued showcase notices for discrepancies in stock position in their records,” he said.
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Highlighting the availability of storage facilities, Mr. Subramanian urged the farmers not to indulge in distress sale of their crops.
“The godowns and other storage facilities have been spruced up and the monthly charges are only Rs. 5 per bag. Farmers can store their crops and sell them at a good price at the opportune time,” he said.