The Hindu : New Delhi News : State wants restrictions on fertilizers lifted

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Thursday, Aug 02, 2007
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New Delhi

State wants restrictions on fertilizers lifted

P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI: Karnataka Agriculture Minister, Bandeppa Kashempur, on Wednesday urged the Centre to withdraw restrictions on the intra-State movement of fertilizers. At present, under the Fertilizer Monitoring System, once allotted to a district, fertilizer stocks are not allowed to be moved to another district even if there was no demand in the former, while the latter faced a shortage.

Participating in the second meeting of the Fertilizer Advisory Forum chaired by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ram Vilas Paswan, he also urged the Centre to ensure that while implementing the new nutrient-based subsidy scheme, there was no additional burden on the farmers. Pointing out that soil in different parts of the country was becoming deficient in micronutrients, he said, the Centre must consider subsidizing them on the lines of macronutrients.

He also wanted that with the introduction of an efficient irrigation system, the concept of fertigation—fertilizers and irrigation, be popularized.

The Centre needed to provide subsidy for water-soluble fertilizers also to make them more affordable.

Likewise, he said, there was a need for new schemes to popularise organic fertilizers so that dependency on inorganic fertilizers was reduced over the years. There has to be a licensing system for organic fertilizers processed and marketed by persons other than farmers to ensure quality control.

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