Centre asks states to promote organic farming, stop urea diversion

Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday urged states to promote organic farming for preservation of soil health and make efforts to reduce use of chemical fertilisers.

The minister also asked states to take up effective steps to curtail diversion of urea meant for agriculture and farmers, to other sectors, according to an official statement.

Mandaviya said this while virtually interacting with agriculture ministers of states and Union Territories on the recent decisions made by the Cabinet regarding fertiliser sector.

On June 28, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a new scheme, PM-PRANAM to incentivise states to promote alternative fertilisers and reduce the use of chemical fertilisers and also decided to continue the current urea subsidy scheme for three years ending March 2025, with an outlay of Rs 3.68 lakh crore.

That apart, CCEA approved an outlay of Rs 1,451 crore subsidy to promote organic manure, taking the total package t