A HEATED scene unfolded in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly on Tuesday after opposition legislator and former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel moved an adjournment motion alleging critical shortages of fertilisers, seeds and electricity during the current Kharif 2026 sowing season. Speaker Raman Singh rejected the demand to discuss the matter during Zero Hour, prompting Congress members to rush into the well of the House in protest. The Speaker temporarily suspended the protesting opposition MLAs for disrupting proceedings; the suspension was later revoked and they were allowed to rejoin the session. Baghel told the House that farmers across the State were facing severe hardship because Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) were short of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and potash at a time when sowing and transplanting are under way. He accused the agriculture department of stocking excess urea and nano-fertilisers while failing to prioritise supplies of DAP and potash requested by farmers. Former CM also criticised erratic power supply, saying frequent outages had adversely affected rural irrigation. He alleged that mandatory registration on the AgriStack portal had become an additional administrative hurdle for farmers seeking timely crop loans.

 

Baghel questioned the State Government’s newly unveiled policy document, ‘Chhattisgarh Anjor Vision 2047’, alleging its target to reduce agriculture’s contribution to the State GDP from 20 per cent to 15 per cent signalled an intent to discourage paddy cultivation and dismantle the procurement ecosystem. Responding to the allegations, Agriculture Minister Ramvichar Netam said there was no widespread shortage of agricultural inputs and described the adjournment motion as unnecessary because administration had already taken steps to stock supplies. Netam tabled departmental data showing the State had procured 14.06 lakh metric tonnes of fertilisers against a Kharif 2026 target of 15.55 lakh tonnes — about 90 per cent of the seasonal requirement. He said global supply-chain constraints had limited DAP availability to 56 per cent of the target, with 1.67 lakh tonnes stocked against a projected 3 lakh tonnes. Potash stocks, he added, had reached 99 per cent of the required target. The Minister further said cooperative networks held 95 per cent of the targeted NPK complex fertilisers and 146 per cent of Single Super Phosphate (SSP), which could serve as alternatives for farmers. On seed availability, Netam said 4.76 lakh quintals of certified seeds had been positioned against a target of 4.95 lakh quintals, including 4.72 lakh quintals of paddy seed to meet an estimated demand of 4.79 lakh quintals for popular regional varieties such as Swarna, Swarna Sub-1, Mahamaya and MTU-1010.