Question : Checking Quality of Compost

(a) the steps taken by the Government for setting up labs for checking the quality and propagation of compost on farmland;
(b) the remedial steps that have been taken/being taken by the Government keeping in view the fact that according to clause 8 of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 brought in by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change the Ministry of Agriculture has to provide flexibility in Fertilizer Control Order for manufacturing and sale of compost, propagate utilization of compost on farmland, set up laboratories to test the quality of compost produced by local authorities or their authorized agencies and issue suitable guidelines for maintaining the quality of compost and ratio of use of compost visa-a-vis chemical fertilizers while applying compost to farmland; and
(c) if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE


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(a): Under Soil Health management (SHM) scheme, Government is providing assistance up to Rs 85 lakhs to states for setting up of Biofertilizer/ organic fertilizers quality testing Laboratories. The funds are also provided under the RKVY. There are 7 Central Government Organic Fertilizer testing laboratories and 25 Laboratories notified by State Governments under FCO (1985) for quality testing of various compost viz, city-compost , vermi–compost, phospho-compost at the State namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The manufactures are required to adhere to quality standard specified of various compost in FCO (1985). The producers are not required to obtain manufacturing license for production of compost but for selling of compost producers are required to take authorization from respective State Government. However, authorization for sale is not required for sale of vermicompost up to 50 MT.
Under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER) schemes Government is encouraging the farmers for use of compost and other organic inputs. Financial support of Rs 31000/ ha / 3 years and Rs 32500/ ha/ 3 years are provided under PKVY and MOVCDNER schemes respectively for various organic inputs including compost.

(b) and (c): Under clause 14-15 of the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985 it was earlier required for the manufacturer to obtain the Certificate of Manufacturing of Organic fertilizer from the Registering Authority of the State Government. In order to facilitate entrepreneurs to enter in the business of manufacturing of city compost, this Ministry has dispensed with the requirement of obtaining Certificate of Manufacture for manufacturing of organic fertilizer/ city compost. Further, in case of City Compost, the letter of authorization issued under clause 8 shall unless renewed, suspended or cancelled is valid in perpetuity. Under schedule IV of the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985, the DA & FW has specified the specification of Organic Fertilizer namely, City Compost, Vermi Compost, Bio Enriched Organic Manure and general specification of organic manure. Clause 19 of the FCO, strictly prohibits the sale of the organic fertilizer which are not of prescribed standards. The method of analysis has also been prescribed in the Schedule IV D for determination of various content of Organic/ City compost. In order to encourage the sale of City Compost at a comparative low price, the GOI under clause 22(c) of FCO has notified units of bulk sale of City Compost directly to farmers. Where the manufacturer is State Government or Municipality, these are exempted from the requirement of obtaining the Authorization letter for sale. Also the manufacturer of vermi compost who have annual production capacity less than 50 MT are exempted from the requirement of Authorization letter.
In the specification of city compost specified in Schedule IV, the value of moisture content is amended from the existing value of 15-25% to 25% maximum in order to take into account the tropical weather conditions in the quality parameters.

This Ministry is regularly pursuing the State Governments to encourage the use of City Compost. Advisories have been issued to the State Governments to encourage the manufacture, sale and distribution of the City Compost. The State Governments were requested to educate farmers through their Extension machinery on the use of various organic fertilizer including city compost. All the States were pursued to encourage the use of organic fertilizers including City Compost in the Zonal Conference. States are also advised from time to time through various forums to take quality control measures under FCO, 1985 to ensure the supply of good quality compost to the farmers. The Ministry has advised the State Government during Rabi Zonal Conference to assess per annum requirement of organic fertilizer of about 3 tonne/ hectare/ per annum as per ICAR recommendations and states were also requested to evaluate all sources of organic fertilizer and bio- fertilizer available with them and to meet the balance requirement through city compost. Further, Soil Health Cards are being distributed to farmers which carry deficiency of soil nutrients and general fertilizer recommendations.


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