Fertilizer crisis for farmers in Manipur; Chief Minister Biren Singh urged for help

IMPHAL: At a time when the state of Manipur is basking in the glow of its athletes' success in the global arena, farmers in Manipur are in a constant state of worry due to the shortage of fertilizers in the state.

Farmers in Manipur are not getting their required fertilizers in the market, and there is a hue and cry in the state due to the non-availability of Urea in the state.

If reports are believed, urea has also become a part of the politics in the state. Manipur will be heading to the polling booths in 2022.

A source in Manipur told Inside Northeast that this crisis has occurred as aspiring political candidates across party lines have managed to procure fertilizers to farmers to woe them, due to which there is a shortage of supply in the market.

"Therefore, farmers in Manipur cannot buy his required fertilizers from the market. Farmers have to stand in long queues since the middle of the night to procure a bag of urea," he said.

"Fertilizers are just like medicines and if farmers cannot use them in time, it will very badly affect their productivity which might even lead to a man-made famine. This is a very serious matter," added the source.

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Amid soaring tensions, the All Tribal Students' Union (ATSUM) has appealed to chief minister N Biren Singh to allocate fertilizers to the affected farmers.

Issuing a release on August 12 last, the body reasoned that the need for fertilizer in the state is "seasonal", and now is the season for the use of such fertilizers.

It has further said that the farmers in the hill districts of the state are the worst affected due to "negligible allocation of urea fertilizer in the hill districts."

Tensions rose further last week when group of seven farmers in Manipur's Bishnupur district resorted to fast unto death stir while demanding to ensure availability of urea fertilizer for their paddy crop immediately.

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They began their stir after hundreds of farmers of Kumbi and its surrounding areas of the district staged protest rallies in their respective areas today.

The peaceful protesters lamented that they have managed to irrigate their dry fields with their own hard efforts due to the acute scarcity of rain. However, their crop was on the verge of failure due to the non-availability of urea fertilizer, the farmers in Manipur said.

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