Why should Directorate of Agriculture issue guidelines that have no takers?

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Flouting the directives of the Directorate of Agriculture by the fertilizer companies has led the farmers of the state to pay more than the price fixed for urea by the State Government. Is it not an insult to the directorate?

To streamline the supply of urea, the Directorate of Agriculture issued an SOP (standard operating procedure) stating that ‘fertilizer companies shall carry the fertilizer to the retailers’ sale points or godowns mandatorily’.

However, with the fertilizer companies not delivering urea to the retailers’ sale points, the retailers have to carry urea in trucks on their own, which entails a huge transportation cost. The retailers have informed the directorate that it is not possible on their part to supply urea at the government-recommended rate of Rs 265 per bag of 45 kg urea to the farmers.

Regarding this issue, the Directorate of Agriculture wrote letters to four fertilizer companies: BVFCL, IFFCO, IPL, and Matix Fertilizer and Chemicals Ltd. on April 24, 2023. The directorate said, “It has been reported by the districts on several occasions that the fertilizer companies are not delivering the products at the retailers’ godowns. The matter has been reviewed at the directorate level after receiving feedback from the stakeholders. The department has taken the matter very seriously and has once again been directed to deliver the fertilizers as per the guidelines issued for them.”

In the recent Budget Session of the State Assembly, several MLAs raised the issue of the scarcity of urea and said that defiance on the part of the fertilizer companies to follow the guidelines issued to them led to the shortage of fertilizers at many places in the state. This led a section of farmers to procure fertilizer from retailers at higher prices. The MLAs demanded the department take stern action against the fertilizer companies.

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