By Ifham Nizam
Necessary steps had been taken to release the urea fertiliser for paddy cultivation in the Maha season, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Rohana Pushpakumara said yesterday.
Pushpakumara said a group of farmer organisations are holding press conferences to discourage the farmers by claiming that fertilisers will not be issued.
The Ministry Secretary said this in a statement in reply to alleged baseless statements made by them to the media.
Fertiliser is given in several steps during this Maha season. As recommended by the Department of Agriculture, 70 percent chemical fertilisers and 30 percent organic fertilisers input have been recommended for paddy cultivation this year.
He said generally in paddy cultivation, urea fertiliser is applied within 14 days after sowing, the second shift of urea fertilizer after four weeks and the third shift is applied between 42 and 45 days after sowing, or planting the seedlings.
“Farmers are demanding to provide fertiliser for all the three shifts at once. It is easy to supply it at once, but we currently do not have enough urea fertiliser for that. Therefore, the urea fertiliser required for the first shift has already been given to all the Agrarian Development Centres,” he added.
Apart from the northern and eastern provinces, paddy cultivation for the Maha season has not yet started in the other districts. But the urea fertiliser required for the first shift has already been sent to the farmers.
“At present, we have about 21,000 metric tonnes of urea fertiliser purchased for paddy in Yala season. Also, 12,500 metric tonnes of fertiliser, ordered for the Maha season, will be delivered on the 25th of this month, and another 120,000 metric tonnes of urea fertiliser will be delivered by the 20th of November,” he added.
Therefore, there should be no fear of not getting the second and third shift urea fertiliser, and as well as 40,000 metric tons of MOP fertiliser (Muriate of potash fertiliser) required are to be received by the end of November.
The Secretary said that there is no need to have doubts or fear that the farmers will not get fertiliser.
This year, the amount of urea fertiliser, given per hectare, is 170 kg. It has been arranged to provide 70 kg more than what was provided the last Yala season.