Urea distribution policy upsets Gujarat farmers

SURAT: Farmers in Gujarat are up in arms against the new urea distribution policy formulated by the ministry of chemical and fertilisers wherein each district will be having only three distribution-cum-warehousing centres. The move is aimed at bringing the urea distribution under 100% government regulation. The companies manufacturing fertilisers have been asked to identify three centres from where urea will be distributed to the farmers by the respective cooperative societies.

Sources said there are more than 3,000 warehouse-cum-distribution centres across the state from where farmers used to procure urea and other fertilisers as per their requirement. The Krishak Bharati Cooperative (Kribhco) has been distributing urea and bio fertilisers from around 1,500 centres across the state. With the new policy in place, the state will have less than 100 distribution centres.

If the farmers are to be believed, then the regulation of urea distribution is likely to increase financial burden on the farmers. Small and marginal farmers from the far-flung villages are the worst-affected as they have to cough up hefty transportation charges to bring in the urea consignment from the distribution centres.

“The Centre has fixed district-wise quotas and thus, there is no need to regulate the distribution of fertilisers,” said president of South Gujarat Farmers Association, Kasan Patel.

According to him, the annual requirement of fertilisers across the state is around 8.5 lakh tonne. This year, the government has fixed only 6.8 lakh tonne quota for the state. However, there is still a shortage of 1.5 lakh tonne.
Not only the farmers, even the companies manufacturing fertilisers are the feeling the heat of the new distribution policy.

The companies were allowed to sell up to 50% of their production in the region of their choice. However, with government regulation, the companies are now busy looking for the potential centres in each district for distributing urea and other fertilisers.

Said a senior marketing manager with Kribhco: “Procuring urea by the farmers in far-flung areas is going to be a costly affair. There is a government subsidy of Rs 65 per tonne within 12 km of the distribution centre. However, the farmers based in the far away villages will have to bear the transportation cost on their own.”