Report by OD bureau; New Delhi: Odisha Agriculture Minister Debi Prasad Mishra on Tuesday meets Union Minister Sharad Pawar and Srikanta Jeana.

During his meeting with Srikanta Jena Union Minister of Chemical and Feritlisers for state, Mishra draw his attention to the problems of the farmers here in carrying forward their farm activities due to non-availability of  required quantum of fertilisers. Besides, he also brought to the Minister’s notice how the sky-rocketing price of fertilisers has affected cultivation in the State.

Mishra had demanded allotment of more fertilisers to meet the requirement of the farmers during the current Kharif, there was no assurance from Jena.

Instead, Jena said since the February-July allotment of fertiliser to the State was yet to be exhausted, the State Government should ensure sale of fertilisers still lying at the disposal of the dealers.

On the other hand, Agriculture Minister Mishra lamented that though the Centre had assured to provide its full quota of 10.50 lakh MT during Kharif, the actual allotment had been to the tune of only 66 per cent till second week of August.

In the evening Mishra meets Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. He urged Pawar not to shift the fresh water Central Institute of Fishery Technology (CIFT) from Burla.Mishra has asked the centre to establish a central agriculture university in the drought prone Kalahandi.