If hurried, plant nutrition Bill could go the farm Act way, fears industry

The fertiliser industry is of the view that the draft Integrated Plant Nutrition Management Bill, 2022, floated a few weeks ago, could meet the same fate as the repealed farm Acts if the government hurries with the legislation without proper debate by all stakeholders, including farmers and state governments.

The draft, which has been put up for public consultation, seeks to regulate the pricing, movement, distribution, import, and storage of fertilisers in the country to ensure their balanced use in the country. The draft, which seeks to incorporate several existing provisions of the Fertiliser Control Order (FCO) and the Fertiliser Movement Order into one piece of legislation, has raised several questions within the fertiliser industry.

Currently, the orders are administered by different ministries.

While the FCO is administered by the Department of Agriculture, the FMO, which regulates the movement, distribution, and allocation of various chemical fertilisers from plants and ports to the states in accordance with the requirement assessed by them, falls within the purview of the Department of Fertilisers.

“Keeping parts of the FCO and FMO under the new Act even while proposing to repeal the FCO and FMO would lead to greater confusion and stifle innovation and could bring back the licence and inspector raj to the sector,” a senior industry official said.

He said while both the FCO and FMO were administrative orders, incorporating some of their provisions into a separate Act and introducing penal provisions into them could create undue regulation in the industry. Sources said the fertiliser industry would place its objections on the draft Bill in the highest echelons of power.

The official said the draft sought to regulate the fertiliser industry with the objective of managing plant nutrients. But is there any reason for the provisions of the Bill to be more stringent than the prevailing legal environment for human nutrition, animal nutrition, or even seeds, the person asked.

The fertiliser industry feels policies and parameters for granting fertiliser subsidies have a direct impact on plant nutrition, management, and soil health.

And the current policy of imbalanced subsidies on nutrients and products is the main reason for the imbalance in the NPK ratio, thereby affecting soil health. “Instead of a new law to promote balanced use of nutrition, the policy of routing fertiliser subsidies through the industry needs a rethink,” the official said.

Among the several provisions of the Act several fertiliser industry players have found uncomfortable is that it seeks to regulate all fertilisers, including traditionally used fertilisers such as “amritpani” and farming practices like “pachgavya krishi”. This, the industry feels, could create a backlash in traditional farming communities.

Sources said the industry also felt some definitions in the draft Act needed a rethink while any move to stifle the e-commerce channel for marketing fertilisers should be resisted.