The Hindu Business Line : Markfed to raise Rs 500 cr for purchase of fertilisers

Hyderabad, April 25 The State has given permission to the Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd (AP Markfed) to raise a loan of Rs 500 crore for purchasing fertilisers for the ensuing kharif season.

“The interest for the loan will be borne by the Government and we have already raised Rs 100 crore. This has been advanced to the manufacturers for the supply of fertilisers,” Mr Ponnam Prabhakar, Chairman, Markfed, told newspersons here on Friday.

The federation has anticipated that like last year there could be a supply shortfall of essential fertilisers and was therefore looking at creating enough stock before the start of the season. According to Government data, against a total requirement of 28.88 lakh tonnes of complex fertilisers, the State received only 20.96 lakh tonnes last year.

“We have also requested the Government to reimburse the local transportation, handling, storage and secondary transportation expenditure to make the stocks available to the farmers in time and we have received an in-principal approval,” he said.

Markfed is also in the process of tying up with fertiliser companies for supply. Mr Prabhakar said that a couple of companies have agreed to provide the fertilisers during off-season (March, April, May and June) itself.

It plans to distribute 10 lakh tonnes of fertilisers during Kharif 2008. “So far we have purchased around 48,653 tonnes of fertilisers and distributed 5,000 tonnes. The balance 43,000 tonnes is stored in different Government godowns,” he said.

More Stories on : Fertilisers | Agricultural Institutions | Andhra Pradesh

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