With a view to regulating the excessive use of urea by farmers , bring down the cost of farming and address soil imbalances and its ill-effects caused by its unnecessary use, the district administration is working on software-driven plan.
The software is being developed for the district after Collector N. Yuvaraj conceived the idea.
“Now what is happening is the same farmer is going to number of fertilizer outlets and is buying urea. Farmers who can not afford it are also doing it increasing the cost of farming. The software will be integrated with all primary agricultural credit societies and fertilizer dealers and land details provided from Web Land, the State government’s portal that covers all land details. Once a farmer goes to any shop and buys fertilizer using an app or computer it will record the quantity online and he can’t buy a second time,” Mr. Yuvaraj told The Hindu .
Using the land details and the crop sown by the farmer, the software will work out the quantity of urea required.
The software-driven approach for sale of fertilizer will be introduced on a pilot basis during the present Kharif season and expanded in subsequent crop seasons, Mr. Yuvaraj said.
The four sugar factories that supply fertilizer to farmers under them will also be brought onto the platform. Besides, village revenue officers and personnel of the Agriculture Department will use an app, e-crop booking, to record which the crop has sown. Creating awareness among the 4.5 lakh farmers is a part of the programme.
The software, is being developed and in its final stages. There has been a tendency among farmers to use more urea as it gives a lush, green look to the crop as well as a substitute for more expensive fertilizers, observed an official of the Agriculture Department.
Of the 2 lakh hectares in which agriculture operations are taken up in the district in Kharif, the normal area of paddy is 1.01 lakh ha, sugarcane in 37241 ha and maize in 5878 ha. These are the major crops on which fertilizer is used for soil nutrition besides horticulture crops like mango, cashew and oil palm.
According to officials of the Agriculture Department, the total quantity of urea used by farmers during the last Kharif and sold through primary agriculture credit co-operative societies and dealers was around 30,000 tonnes.
The plan intends to bring down the use of urea by 5000 to 6000 tonnes this Kharif. "By scientific use of urea the cost of farming per acre is expected to come down between Rs.1500 and Rs.2000," say officials of the Agriculture Department.
