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Direct fertiliser subsidies should be well-targeted

The joint initiative of the finance ministry and the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog to devise a system to transfer fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers, instead of routing it through the industry, is a welcome move that can serve several objectives. But the task is far more intricate than the direct benefit transfer (DBT) of some other subsidies, like that on the cooking gas, where a fixed amount is credited to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts. Since fertiliser use varies from farmer to farmer and crop to crop and no specific data is available on these counts, it is