Chhattisgarh gets ready for kharif crops

Chhattisgarh has started preparation for the upcoming kharif season with the state government dispatching a list of demands to the Centre.

According to officials in the state's agriculture department, the state government has worked out a plan that requires over 1.1 million tonnes (MT) of various fertilisers for the kharif, 2015. "After getting approval on departmental proposal from the state government, Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal has sent the proposal to central government," officials said.

Officials informed that for upcoming kharif crop, 575,000 tonnes of urea, 225,000 tonnes of DAP, 155,000 tonnes of NCP, 70,000 tonnes of MOP and 100,000 tonnes of NPK have been demanded from the central government. Farmers were supplied 948,344 tonnes of fertilisers in kharif, 2014 and 940,388 tonnes in kharif, 2013 as per the demands.

The kharif marketing season 2014-15 is yet to end in Chhattisgarh with paddy procurement still continuing. Following delay in the harvest, the state government has decided to procure paddy from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) till January 31. As of now, 5.7 million tonnes of paddy have been procured in the state. The quantity of paddy procured could be less than the last year. The state government had procured 8 mt of paddy that was likely to restrict within 6 MT in the current kharif marketing season 2014-15. Chhattisgarh's total paddy production is likely to touch 11.5 million tonnes this year.

The state government, in a cost cutting measure, had put a cap on paddy procurement. The state government had earlier decided to purchase only 10 quintals of paddy behind every acre of land. After facing strong protest within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and farmers, Chief Minister Raman Singh extended the cap to 15 quintals per acre.