In an effort to avoid fertiliser shortage issues during crop season in Manipur, officials concerned should issue chemical fertilisers to farmers only after conducting field verification, state Agriculture Minister Thongam Biswajit Singh said in Imphal on Monday.
Speaking at his reception ceremony held at the state Agriculture department located at Sanjenthong, Imphal East on Monday, Biswajit said that as per the Centre’s instruction, chemical fertilisers can be issued to farmers after conducting soil testing of the respective paddy field.
Concerned officials should conduct verification on the dimension of the paddy field for each farmers before the fertilisers are issued, he said, adding that it would help resolve the issue of shortage of chemical fertilisers.
To reduce the suffering faced by the farmers, he had discussed with Chief Minister N Biren Singh to but paddy for the farmers by the state government and to distribute them as PDS items, he said.
Biswajit said if farmers plant medicinal plants at single harvest paddy field then farmers could earn more income.
To promote farmers of Manipur, both the state and Central governments have been giving priority on implementing various welfare schemes for the farmers, he said.
Officials concerned should help while providing such schemes to the farmers, he added.
The agriculture department should take necessary steps to replace imported vegetables, including crops by state agricultural products, he added.
Commissioner (Agriculture) M Joy and director of agriculture department, N Gojendro attended the function as guest of honour and president respectively.
