RAJBIRAJ, JUNE 27
Farmers in Saptari have started agitation, protesting the shortage of chemical fertiliser even after the paddy planting season has already set in. The agitation was called by Rastriya Prajatantra Party on behalf of farmers.
It is important to note that farmers had sent a memorandum to the prime minister through chief district officer Janardan Gautam, citing the government's failure to resolve the problem of fertiliser shortage. "Despite sending the memorandum, our problem hasn't been resolved yet, that is why we had to take to the street," said farmer Rambadri Yadav of Rajbiraj Municipality-13.
As part of the agitation, a rally led by RPP leaders with farmers' participation, had started from the party office in Rajbiraj and made a round of the town before converging at Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC) office, where the participants staged a sit-in in front of the office for about one hour.
According to AKC chief Rajendra Yadav, paddy cultivation has been completed in only 15 per cent of the total arable land available in Saptari owing to the shortage of fertiliser. "It's the responsibility of STC (Salt Trading Corporation Limited) and Agriculture Inputs Company to provide fertiliser, but as they don't have enough fertiliser it has created a shortage, thereby escalating the problem," said Yadav.
Farmer Sarendra Sah, who took part in today's agitation and sit-in, demanded that the government do the needful to provide farmers with fertiliser as soon as possible. "We have been cultivating by using fertiliser, so if we don't get that, it is sure to affect productively to a colossal extent," he said.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 28, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.