The International Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA) on Sunday appealed to the Manipur government to look into the farmers' plight and take up necessary steps so that urea fertilizers meant for farmers is easily distributed.
There is hardly any sign of any initiative taken up by the state government for the farmers except for the urea distributed by intending candidates for the upcoming state assembly and self-acclaimed social workers before the media, the IPSA stated in a release.
The state government had declared that there will be no shortage of urea for the farmers and the minister concerned had even flagged off urea meant for different districts as reported in the media, IPSA stated.
However, IPSA is surprised to learn that there are still reports of farmers complaining since they apparently did not receive urea fertilisers and a section of farmers have already resorted to protest and relay hunger strike, it added.
IPSA raised apprehension whether the scarcity of urea in the state is caused by the staff of the department concerned, the ministers or whether both are involved.
Since the pandemic has already affected the people of the state, the state government must make sure that there is no artificial famine in near future due to the prevailing problem of urea scarcity faced by the farmers, the release added.
IPSA claimed that farmers have to deal with problems due to unavailability of urea in addition to the problems caused by the indecent rainfall in the state.
The state government is aware of the fact that different paddy fields in the state have been affected due to the scanty rainfall for the current year, it mentioned.
As there is an appropriate season for timely cultivation, distributing urea fertilisers at a cheap price or free of cost after the end of the season will be of no use, it added.
