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Our Bureau

Kolkata, Nov. 3

The West Bengal Government plans to set up a special cell at the Writers’ Building to educate farmers on fertiliser prices and seed quality, according to Mr Sanjeev Chopra, State Agriculture Secretary.

“We are planning to set up a special cell at Writer’s to monitor fertiliser prices and educate farmers on the quality of seeds,” Mr Chopra said on the sidelines of a meeting organised to announce the Agro Protech 2009 summit by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the State Government here on Tuesday.

The State Agriculture Department, Mr Chopra said, would take several initiatives, including issuing advertisements telling farmers not to buy fertilisers at more than the maximum retail price (MRP). “There are reports of scarcity of fertiliser but at the macro level the State Government feels that there is no scarcity. Scarcity, if any, is primarily because farmers want some specific brands of fertilisers,” he said.

The State Agriculture Department will also run a check on the quality of potatoes stored in cold storage to ensure that the stored potatoes are free from the late blight disease, he added. The State’s potato production in the coming season will be higher than this year as the acreage next year will increase because of high potato prices this year.

“Ideally, potato should be grown on 250,000-300,000 hectares but we feel next year the acreage will be more as growers, lured by this year’s high prices and the consequent rise in income, will be tempted to bring more areas under the crop,” Mr Chopra said.

Prices of wheat, rice and pulses will remain more or less stable, he observed. However, there would be a kharif crop deficit of around two to three per cent because of deficient rainfall this year.

More Stories on : Fertilisers | Seeds | West Bengal

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