The centre today warned that it would take strict action against malpractices like hoarding, black marketing, or diversion of fertilizers.

The warning was issued by Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya at a virtual meeting he and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had with the agriculture ministers of states and Union Territories to review the situation of fertilizers in the country.

Mandaviya noted that with the government’s proactive steps in pre-positioning urea, the country has much more stock of fertilizers this Kharif season than the demand. He also advised the states to keep providing farmers with adequate and accurate information regarding availability and to not create panic or misinformation related to fertilizer stocks.

He also urged the states to make farmers aware of the recent trends in the fertilizers market and alternate fertilizers and agriculture practices like the use of nano urea and organic farming.

He informed that the increase in the international prices of Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and its raw materials have been primarily absorbed by the centre.

The centre has also decided to provide a subsidy of Rs. 2501 per bag on DAP instead of the existing subsidy of Rs.1650 per bag which is a 50 percent increase over the last year’s subsidy rates.

Mandaviya advised the states to undertake micro-planning of fertilizer movement within the states strictly as per the requirement and do timely unloading of rakes for better utilisation of the rolling stock. The states were also advised to do adequate prepositioning of fertilizers, especially in the cooperative channel.

While discussing the situation of Fertilizers in India, Agriculture Minister Tomar stated that agriculture was a vital sector providing employment to a large population.

“We are committed to providing support for agriculture, which is a priority sector for us. Be it an investment, Kisan Credit Card, insurance schemes, crop diversification, or horticulture, we have always worked to strengthen this sector. In agricultural production, we are always leading and are a global leader,” he said. The government was committed to ensuring the availability of affordable fertilizers to the farmers, he added.

He further said that in order to reduce the agricultural import dependence, we should work together to become AtmaNirbhar in the agriculture sector too. Our farmers produce high-quality products and are witnessing huge export demand in the sector. We also look forward to suggestions in further improving the agricultural sector in India, be it use of technology or any other initiative, we want farmers to benefit, he added.