Chennai, Oct 22 (PTI) With a shortfall in the supply of nutrients, particularly Urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) to Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged the Centre to provide additional 25,000 metric tonnes of DAP and 10,000 MT of MOP to the State to save the farm sector from a crisis.

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He said already the State did not get the entire quantum of fertilisers allocated to it from April to September this year and also for October.

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"Samba crop cultivation is a very important season in Tamil Nadu. This year, the State government has fixed a target of 125 lakh MT of food grains production including rice and pulses and initiated measures in this direction," the Chief Minister said in a letter to Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

The shortage in the supply of urea and DAP will not only severely affect the food grains production but also corrode the farmers' revenue, he reasoned.

An official release said the Chief Minister pointed out that Tamil Nadu received widespread rains during the current Southwest Monsoon season and the Mettur dam was opened as scheduled on June 12 to facilitate the agriculture activities in the Delta districts.

"As a result, the area under paddy cultivation exceeded 4.9 lakh acres. Also, all the major dams in the State were opened after many years to facilitate farming operations, resulting in increasing the prospects of raising the paddy in over 10 lakh acres," he said.

Further, with the Northeast Monsoon expected to commence on October 26, this year's prospects of raising the Samba crop is very bright. So, the demand for fertilisers has increased this year.

Though, the Centre ought to have supplied 4.911 lakh MT urea to meet its demand from April to September 2021, the fertiliser companies have supplied 3.852 lakh MT urea to Tamil Nadu, leading to a shortfall of 1.059 lakh MT. Similarly, of the 1.47 lakh MT DAP to be supplied during this period, only 1.15 lakh MT DAP was supplied, leading to a shortfall of 32,000 MT.

During October, as against the requirement of 1,66,700 MT urea, 45,150 MT DAP, 31,750 MT MOP, the firms supplied 1,43,500 MT urea, 4,480 MT DAP and 8,140 MT of MOP. "Hence, appropriate orders should be issued to the officials concerned to disburse the total quantity of urea as planned and an additional 25,000 MT of DAP and 10,000 MT of MOP," the Chief Minister urged in the letter.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)