Government of India takes steps every season for ensuring timely and adequate supply of fertilizers in the country
The requirement of DAP in the country for the ongoing Rabi 2024-25 season, as per the assessment by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, is 52.05 LMT. Against the pro-rata requirement, for the period 01.10.2024 to 03.12.2024, of 35.52 LMT, 38.27 LMT of DAP has been made available across the States. Further, the sales of DAP during the said period is 29.22 LMT and the States are having closing stock of 9.05 LMT of DAP.
The following steps are taken by the Government every season for ensuring timely and adequate supply of fertilizers in the country:
- Before the commencement of each cropping season, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), in consultation with all the State Governments, assesses the state-wise & month-wise requirement of fertilizers.
- On the basis of requirement projected, the Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficient/ adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing a monthly supply plan and continuously monitors the availability.
- The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system called integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System (iFMS);
- Regular Weekly Video Conference is conducted jointly by DA&FW and D/o Fertilizers with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizers as indicated by the State Governments.
- The gap between demand (requirement) and production of fertilizers is met through imports. The import for the season is also finalized well in advance to ensure timely availability.
Government of India (GOI), through fertilizer companies, is actively engaging with DAP producing nations to procure additional supplies of DAP. Accordingly, opportunities for increasing the procurement of DAP have been explored in countries including Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Government of India (GOI) has implemented Nutrient Based Subsidy Policy w.e.f. 01.04.2010 for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) Fertilizers, under which subsidy is provided on notified P&K fertilizers, which includes Single Super Phosphate (SSP) also. Besides, GOI has notified Nano DAP under the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO) – 1985.
The Government of India has laid down reasonable guidelines for P&K fertilizers which ensure that P&K fertilizers are available at reasonable prices to farmers. Accordingly, all farmers are being supplied fertilizers at the subsidized rates.
This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Smt Anupriya Patel in Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question today.
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