Fertiliser makers to upload sales detail on real time basis

Irked by the misuse of subsidy and illegal diversion, the Fertiliser Ministry has directed the producers to furnish details of sales up to last point on real-time basis.

"It is necessary that fertiliser companies do provide details of sale of fertilisres to wholesalers and thereafter to retailers on the FMS so that the same is placed in public domain on real-time basis," Minister of State for Fertiliser Srikant Jena told PTI here.
    
The government had in early 2007 launched a web-based Fertiliser Monitoring System (FMS) aiming to capture the flow of farm nutrients up to district level for streamlining the despatch and sales from manufacturing units and ports to the states on daily basis. However, the system was not full-proof as it could not trace the last leg of journey.
    
Justifying the recent move, Jena said it would ensure timely information to local availability of fertiliser to farmers in all parts of the country and discourage any illegal diversion for non-agricultural usages or marketing of fertilisers outside the country.
    
"The release of final subsidy on sales of fertilisers should be linked with regular updation of the sales in the FMS so that the same could be achieved at an early date and also can be sustained for future," he added.
    
Under the present system, the government releases subsidy without any potent collateral which could establish that the subsidised fertilisers have actually been sold to the farmers.
    
This leads to misutilisation of fertiliser subsidy with the farmers not using the fertilisers that is meant for them and also being forced to pay the price higher than what is meant for them.