DHARWAD: Minister for Agriculture Bandeppa Kashempur has appealed to farmers not to panic over the "slight delay" in the distribution of seeds at subsidised rates.

The Minister told presspersons here on Tuesday that the delay in the distribution of seeds to small and very small farmers was because of the delayed arrival of consignment from Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and there was no dearth of seeds.

He said for the kharif season there was demand for 58,000 quintals of seeds in the State and the Government had stocked 72,000 quintals of seeds. Last year, the Government had spent Rs. 87 crore for distributing seeds to farmers at subsidised prices and steps had been taken to ensure that there would be no scarcity of seeds for kharif season. Steps had been taken to meet the increased demand for soyabean, he said. Admitting that there was scarcity of DAP fertiliser in the State, the Minister said the State Government had communicated the message to the Union Government. Zuary Company had a stock of 4,000 tonnes of the fertiliser and the Railway Ministry had been urged to transport the same to the State, he said.

He said he would be shortly going to Delhi to meet the Railway Minister and the Union Agriculture Minister to get the required quantity of fertilizers to the State.

To a question, he said directions had been given to officials to strictly take action against merchants who charge more for the fertilizers than the stipulated rates. They had been directed to make the extension activities more active, he added.

Meeting

The Minister said the Chief Minister would chair a meeting in Bangalore on June 14 on the problems related to agriculture and the farmers.

Progressive farmers and agriculture experts had been invited for the meeting, he said.

Later, the Minister visited the Raita Sampark Kendras at Garag and Chabbi villages and interacted with farmers on the distribution of seeds and other issues.

He was accompanied by Joint Director for Agriculture N.V. Chandrashekhar, and District Watershed Development Officer S.P. Biradar.

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