Shri Singh informed that the mandate of the Department of Fertilizers (DOF) is to make available fertilizers to farmers at affordable prices.

There is no shortage of any fertilizer in the country as availability is more than the sales: Shri Rao Inderjit Singh

Government of India is encouraging establishment of bio-fertilizer production units by providing financial assistance to State Governments

Minister of State for Planning (IC) and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, in a written reply to a question on National Policy on Fertilizer Supply, in Lok Sabha today, informed that in order to regulate the trade, price, quality and distribution of fertilizers, Government of India has declared the fertilizer as an essential commodity under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and has promulgated the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985. Specifications of fertilizers are prescribed in the said order.

Shri Singh informed that the mandate of the Department of Fertilizers (DOF) is to make available fertilizers to farmers at affordable prices. The “affordable prices” part of mandate gets translated into subsidized fertilizers. The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is being monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system (www.urvarak.co.in) also called as Integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System (iFMS).

The Minister said that urea is being provided to the farmers at a statutorily notified Maximum Retail Price (MRP). The difference between the delivered cost of fertilizers at farm gate and net market realization by the urea units is given as subsidy to the urea manufacturer/importer by the Government of India. Further, the Government is implementing Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme w.e.f. 1.4.2010. Under the said Scheme, a fixed amount of subsidy decided on annual basis, is provided on each grade of subsidized Phosphatic & Potassic (P&K) fertilizers of FCO standards, depending upon its Nutrient Content.

Shri Singh provided the figures of projected requirement, availability & sales of fertilizers [Urea, P&K (DAP, MOP & NPK)] in the year 2017-18 and in the current year upto June (from April’18 to June’18). It can be seen from the tables above that there is no shortage of any fertilizer as availability is more than the sales, Shri Singh said.

2017-18

<Figures in Lakh MT>

Product	Requirement	Availability	Sales
Urea	298.52	317.06	303.06
P&K (DAP, MOP & NPK)	229.47	226.17	212.34

(April’18 to June’18)

<Figures in Lakh MT>

Product	Requirement	Availability	Sales
Urea	66.93	82.76	64.61
P&K (DAP, MOP & NPK)	53.58	66.37	44.85

The Minister also gave details of subsidies extended on fertilizers during the last three years and the current year upto June, which are as follows:

<Rs. In Crores>

Year	Indigenous Urea	Imported      Urea	Indigenous            P&K	Imported               P&K	City                  Compost
2015-16	38,200.00	16,400.00	11,969.00	9,968.56	-
2016-17	40,000.00	11,256.59	11,842.88	6,999.99	0.55
2017-18	36,973.70	9,980.00	14,337.00	7,900.00	7.26
2018-19 up to June, 2018	4915.87	3,641.12	4,532.35	3,705.75	0.24

Talking about the measures taken by the Government to prevent illegal activities like smuggling of fertilizers from neighbouring countries, Shri Singh informed that Government of India has declared fertilizer as an essential commodity under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955(ECA) and notified Fertilizer (Control) Order (FCO), 1985 & Fertilizer (Movement Control) Order, 1973 under the EC Act. State Governments have been adequately empowered to check smuggling of fertilizers. State Governments are empowered to conduct search, make seizures and take punitive action against any person violating provisions of FCO, 1985 and Essential Commodities Act, 1955. No State Government has reported smuggling of fertilizer from India to neighbouring countries.

The Minister also informed that Government of India is encouraging establishment of bio-fertilizer production units (200TP or 50,000 litre/annum) by providing 100% financial assistance to State Governments, up to maximum limit of Rs. 160 lakhs per unit and financial assistance to farmers/individuals/private agencies @ 25% of total financial outlay (TFO) or Rs. 40 lakh, whichever is less under the Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme (CISS) through NABARD. Further, Government of India is promoting bio-fertilizer through schemes of National Mission of Sustainable Development (NMSA)/ Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and supported by Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) and National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), Shri Singh added.