Imphal: The Manipur cabinet has decided to provide subsidised urea to distressed farmers at the rate of Rs 278.80 per bag of 50 Kgs as the state is facing drought.
The cabinet presided by Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh last evening decided to ask the Agriculture department to ensure that farmers get the urea at the notified price.
About Rs 4.27 crore would be spent by the government to help the farmers, official sources said.
This year the total annual rainfall has been short of 313.22 mm than the normal range.
Most of the farmers were aggrieved that the government had not declared drought status, Manihar, a farmer from Imphal West, said.
Only half of the total agricultural land in the state was cultivable now and hence declaration of drought was a must, he pointed out, adding the state government had been delaying demands of the farmers to declare drought and decided to provide urea at subsidised rate.
Meanwhile, in the valley districts most of the paddy fields had dried up and the water levels of all the rivers were low. (UNI)