OREANDA-NEWS. December 22, 2015. Farmers are getting Fertilizers (Urea, DAP, MOP &NPK) on time. To ensure adequate availability on time, the Department of Fertilizers takes following steps:

1. The month-wise demand is assessed and projected by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) in consultation with the State Governments before commencement of each cropping season.

2. On the basis of month-wise & state-wise projection given by DAC&FW, Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficient/adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing monthly supply plan and continuously monitors the availability through following system:-

(i) 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 Fertilizer Monitoring System (FMS);

(ii) The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents for railway rakes through their state institutional agencies like Markfed etc;

(iii) Regular Weekly Video Conference is conducted jointly by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Department of Fertilizers (DoF) and Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments;

(iv) The gap between demand (requirement) and production is met through import.

Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985 has been promulgated to regulate quality of fertilizers. Specifications of fertilizers are prescribed in the said Order. Samples of fertilizers are drawn periodically by the fertilizer inspectors of the State Governments from retailers/wholesalers, manufacturing units etc. for testing in the notified laboratories to check their quality in respect of the quality parameters prescribed in the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985. In case of imported fertilizers, the fertilizer inspectors of the Central Government (Central Fertilizer Quality Control & Training Institute and its regional centers) draw the samples from the ships/containers. State Governments are empowered under the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985 to take appropriate administrative and legal action against those not complying with the provisions prescribed in the Order.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.