GUNTUR: Andhra Agriculture department joint director M Vijayabharathi assured that the farmers need not worry about the availability of fertilisers, as adequate stocks were available in the market. Addressing a press conference in Guntur on Friday, she said that the Kharif season had begun and that the government has also announced the supply of water for irrigation for the benefit of the farmers.
She said that moderate rainfall was registered in July and August, and as a result, the farmers began paddy cultivation in Krishna delta area. But after heavy inflows to the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, the farmers served by the right canal also started sowing paddy in their fields. She said that the agriculture department supplied seeds of different crops at 70 per cent subsidy and created awareness among the farmers so that they reduce the use of fertilisers. She said that the department supplied 70,000 tonnes of fertilisers out of the available 1.90 lakh tonne and remaining 1.20 lakh tonne were available in the market.
The agriculture joint director said the owners of the fertiliser shops would sell a bagful of fertiliser weighing 45 kg for `266.50. If any shop owner was found selling the fertilisers at more than the fixed-rate, proper action would be taken against them. Agricultural officials had already inspected 1,300 pesticide shops out of 1,560 in Guntur district, Vijayabharathi added.
She further said that crop loans to the tune of Rs 4,284 crore out of a target of Rs 6,953 crores set by the government were sanctioned by the banks and loans worth Rs 32 crore were released to tenant farmers in the district. “The government would sanction Rs 12,500 per farmer in the month of October,” Vijayabharathi said.