Cultivation to increase on 6,664 hectares due to good rainfall forecast

Aurangabad, May 2:

Due to good rainfall forecast, the agriculture department has proposed to plant 6,664 hectares more than the average area of 6.75 lakh hectares in Kharif this year. Cultivation is estimated to be on 3.99 lakh hectares for cotton, 1.55 lakh hectares for maize and tur on 42,200 hectares. For this 43,316 quintals of seeds are demanded and 41,144 quintals of seeds have been made available. The farmers have 8,612 quintals of soybean seeds and the germination capacity has been checked and the cultivation has been advised by the agriculture department.

District agriculture development officer Anand Ganjewar informed that real-time sales record of subsidized fertilizer sale on Point of Sale (E-PoS) machine is required and if thumbprint is not accepted on E-PoS and if mobile number is not linked to Aadhaar, farmers should update the information from Setu Suvidha Kendra before kharif season. The licenses of 34 vendors have been suspended for one month due to discrepancies in E-PoS stocks and actual stocks. Police check posts will be set up to stop sale of HTBT or illegal seeds in the district. The railway department should give priority to unloading the fertilizer rack first. For this, Mathadi Mandal should make workers available. Ganjewar also informed that the district collector has instructed the district supply officer to arrange passes if there is any difficulty for farmers in travelling in the district for the purchase of agriculture commodities. He appealed to the farmers to follow the rules of corona when buying seeds for the kharif season. Performed by Mangesh Gondawale.

Availability of 1.42 lakhs tons of fertilizers

Last season, 2,68,889 metric tons of fertilizer were used. An allocation of 2,55,810 metric tonnes was sanctioned in the current Kharif season. At the end of April, 1,42,467 metric tons of fertilizer is available. Of this, 50,112 metric tonnes of urea and 63,214 tonnes of compound fertilizers are available in the district.

Limit of purchase of 50 bags in a month

According to the new notification of the central government, a farmer will be able to purchase only 50 bags of all types of fertilizers in a month. The department of agriculture has appealed to those who need more fertilizers to purchase fertilizers in phases from now on.