MP: Rabi Sowing Getting Late As Farmers Queue Up For Manure

Morena (Madhya Pradesh): Sowing Rabi crop may be late because of delay in availability of manure. The farmers queue up outside the government-run fertiliser distribution centres daily. If DAP fertiliser is not available in a few days, the yield of mustard will be less than expected. According to farmers, if they do not get fertiliser, their future is in the dark.

On the other hand, the officials of the district administration said that there was no shortage of fertiliser and appealed to the farmers to use NKPS manure. Out of 2, 60,000 hectares where the seeds of Rabi crop are sown, mustard crop will be sown in 1, 80,000 hectares.

According to officials of the district administration, fertiliser arrived late because of three-day Dussehra holiday. Fertiliser is being distributed from the district office of the state government’s cooperative society through government’s agencies, sources said. Markfed and marketing cooperative societies give tokens to farmers for distribution of fertiliser daily.

To collect the tokens, the farmers queue up outside the token distribution centres in district and Tehsil headquarters. The farmers are demanding DAP to increase mustard crop. So, they are not ready to buy NKPS fertiliser, despite appeal by the district administration. As fertiliser is not available, the farmers are worried. They feel it may delay sowing Rabi crops. 

Delayed sowing may afflict their crops with diseases, the farmers said. They do not want to go to any fertiliser distribution centres run by private agencies who allegedly take higher rates than the government agencies. They also feel that the fertiliser supplied by the private organisation may lack quality.