FERTILISER AND MANURES

Fertiliser Consumption 

The consumption of chemical fertilizers during 2001-02 has been 173.60 lakh tonnes of nutrients as against 167.02 lakh tonnes of nutrients during 2000-01 and 180.69 lakh tones of nutrients consumed during 1999-2000, an increase of 3.94% over 2000-01 but still lower by 3.92% over 1999-2000. This was due to drought condition prevailing in many parts of the country. All chemical fertilizers except urea continue to be decontrolled. The Government continues to provide subsidy to the manufacturers of urea to enable its availability to farmers at reasonable prices. Also for enabling sale of decontrolled Phosphatic (P) and Potassic (K) fertilizers at reasonable prices, the Government has been implementing a scheme of Concession on sale of P&K fertilizers. The consumption of major fertilizers during the last five years is shown below:

Consumption of Fertilisers  (in lakh tonnes)

The allocation of urea from manufacturers to States is being done by the Department of Fertilisers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers with effect from 27.09.2000 based on the assessment made by Department of Agricul;ture & Cooperation through half yearly zonal conferences and the availability of urea As well as DAP and MOP is monitored vigorously. 

The per hectare Fertiliser consumption of NPK has increased from 86.71 kg/h.a. during 2000-2001 to 90.12 kg/h.a. during 2001-2002. However, it is still lower than 93.81 kg/h.a. of 1999-2000. It varied from 173.38 kg/h.a. in Punjab, 143.46 kg/h.a. in Andhra Pradesh to only 17 kg/h.a. in Meghalaya.

Fertiliser Prices
As part of the budgetary exercise for 2002-2003, the prices of urea and other fertilizers was increased by about 5%. This increase was effected after two years of stable prices.

The Prices of Fertilisers at present are as under:-

Buffer Stocking of Fertilisers

A buffer stock of limited quantity of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Muriate of Potash (MOP) is being maintained at strategic locations to meet emergent requirements to the extent of upto 1.75 lakh MT of DAP and 55000 MT of MOP. These stocks are in the nature of rolling stocks and can be replenished when depleted. Besides meeting emergent needs, the Buffer Stock  also helps to meet requirements of States which have low demand and hence sometimes find it difficult to induce suppliers to move fertilizers in small quantities.

Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Balanced and Integrated Use of Fertilisers. 

The main objective of the scheme was to encourage soil test based judicious application of NPK and micro nutrient fertilizers through strengthening of soil testing programmes and setting up of compost plants for conversion of city waste/garbage into organic manure. The scheme has been implemented during IX Plan with the following components with an outlay of Rs. 461100 thousand.  

Establishment of mechanized compost plants;

Strengthening of existing soil testing laboratories with –

NPK testing facilities; and

Micro-nutrient testing facilities

Establishment of new soil testing laboratories with NPK testing facilties (without micro nutrient testing facilities);  

This Scheme has since been subsumed in the macro-management mode during  X Plan.

National Project on Development And Use of Bio-fertilisers. 

During the year 2001-2002, 12 Orientation training, 3 Extension Workers Training, 70 Field Demonstrations and 67 farmer’s fairs were organized by the National Bio-fertilizers Development Centre  (NBDC), and its six Regional Centres. To maintain a check on quality of bio-fertilizers sold in the country, 363 bio-fertilizers samples received from various sources were tested during 2001-2002

            At present there are 125 bio-fertilizers production units including 77 Government of India supported units with installed capacity of 18000 tonnes.  

Central Fertiliser Quality Control and Training Institute and Its Regional Laboratories
   The Central Fertiliser Quality Control and Training Institute (CFQC&TI), Faridabad was established in 1971-72 as a subordinate office and later its 3 Regional Fertiliser control Laboratories (RFCL) located at Navi Mumbai, Chennai and Kalyani were set up during 1988-89 with main activities of :  

Drawal, Inspection and analysis of both indigenous and imported fertilizers,

Training of State ‘Enforcement Officers and Analysts including officers from developing countries,

Development of methods of analysis. Acting as a Referee Laboratory besides an advisory body on the issues relating to Fertiliser Quality Control.                                                               

During 2002-03, 131 ships have been inspected till December, 2002, out of which, 7 shipments have failed in physical parameters like moisture and particle size. The Central teams during random inspection of manufacturing units and dealers collected total 276 samples from different States during 2001-02, out of which 49.63% were found Non standard. The analysis reports were sent to the concerned State Governments for further follow up action against the offenders. During 2002-03, total 159 samples have been drawn till December, 2002 out of which, 13% were found Non standard. 

During 2001-02 the Institute and its Regional Laboratories organized 22 training programmes for  the State Fertiliser Inspectors and Fertiliser Analysts and one International Training Programme for Foreign participants. Total 272 officers from state  Government and 18 Foreign participants were trained in these training programmes. During 2002-03, till December 2002, 15 training programmes for the Fertiliser Inspectors/Analysts including one for Foreign participants have been organized, in which 125 officers from the State Governments and 14 foreign participants from 9 countries have been trained. So far 232 officers from 52 developing countries have been trained by the Institute till 2002-03. In addition, the Institute has also organized 35 orientation training courses and 29 Dealers’ Training Programmes in the States during 2001-2002 for which financial assistance of Rs. 10,000/- and Rs. 5,000/- respectively was provided by the Institute for each training programme. During 2002-03 (till December, 2002), such programmes organized are 22 and 28 against the target of 26 and 30 respectively, which will be completed by the year end. 

The scheme of Strengthening of CFQC&TI/RFCLs has been restructured and made a component of ‘National Project on Fertiliser Quality Control’ for implementation during X Plan. 

Status of Fertiliser Quality Control 

To ensure adequate availability of fertilizers of standard quality to farmers, fertilizer was declared as an Essential Commodity and Fertilizer Control Order (FCO) was promulgated under Section 3 of Essential commodities Act, 1955 to regulate trade, price, quality and distribution of fertilizers in the country.  The Order provides for compulsory registration of all fertilizer manufacturers, importers and dealers, specification of all fertilizers manufactured  and sold in the country, regulation on manufacture of fertilizer mixture, packing and labeling on fertilizer bags, appointment of Enforcement agencies, sampling and analysis of fertilizer samples, setting up of Quality Control Laboratories and prohibiting the manufacture and sale of non standard/spurious/adulterated fertilizers. The FCO has been recently amended to make it more user friendly and ensuring effective enforcement. This includes dispensing with Dealers Registration Certificate, provision of redressal grievances mechanism through refree analysis and tolerance limits on physical parameters, new grades of 100% water soluble fertilizers and permitting commercial trials of fortified fertilizers etc. 

The enforcement of this Order has primarily been entrusted to state Governments. The Central Government provides training facilities and technical guidance to States and supplements their efforts through random inspection of manufacturing units and their distribution network through the Inspectors. About 20 grades of straight/complex fertilizers are produced/consumed in the country, Presently there are 66 laboratories in the country (including 4 Central Government laboratories) with a total annual analyzing capacity of 1.20 lakhs samples. The analytical capacity and the number of samples analysed and found non-standard during  last  4 years are as under: 

Year-wise laboratories established with analytical capacity, samples analysed and found non-standard:

The magnitude of samples found non-standard varies from state to state. The percentage of Non-standard samples on all India basis is hovering around 5 - 6% during last 5 years. During 2001-2002, the percentage of Non-standard samples was 5.7% on all India basis but it ranged from 1.0 - 2% in Jharkhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, J&K and Karnataka, 2 - 4% in Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, 5 - 6% in Bihar, Maharashtra, 8 -12% in Orissa, UP and Haryana and 14% in West Bengal. The product wise analysis indicate that on all India basis about 23.4% samples of Micronutrient Fertilizer Mixtures are non-standard followed by NPK Mixtures. The next problem is in SSP where 7.35% of samples were found non-standard. 

Organic Farming. 

The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation had set up a Task Force on Organic Farming comprising Members of Parliament, Senior Government Officers and Experts under the Chairmanship of Dr. Kunwarji Bhai Jadav which had submitted its report in November, 2001 identifying the problems and suggestions on promotion of organic farming in the country. Based on their recommendations, Government has formulated a “National Project on Organic Farming” for implementation during X Plan, for ensuring production, promotion, market development and regulation of organic farming in the country.  This includes setting up of  a “National Institute of Organic Farming” as a central body for formulation of national standards of organic farming, appointment of accreditation and certification agencies for certifying organic produce, training of extension workers and farmers and commercial support for setting up of production units of organic inputs, etc.