Question : DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF SUBSTANDARD FERTILIZERS

(a) whether the sale and manufacture of fertilizers are governed by the Fertilizers (Control) Order, 1985;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether complaints have been received from various quarters regarding manufacture, distribution and sale of fertilizers not conforming to the prescribed standards;

(d) if so, the number of complaints received in this regard in various States for the last three years, year and State-wise and

(e) the follow up corrective action taken by various agencies/State Governments for protecting the interests of farmers?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SHRI SRIKANT KUMAR JENA)

(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the table of the House.

Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 598 to be answered on 06.05.2010.

(a) to (e) Fertilizers have been declared as essential commodities under the Essential Commodities Act, (ECA) 1955. In order to ensure adequate availability of good quality of fertilizers at reasonable price to the farmers, the Government of India under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act has promulgated the Fertilizer (Control) Order, (FCO) 1985. FCO empowers the Government to regulate the price; distribution and quality of fertilizers. Under clause 19 of FCO sale/manufacture of such fertilizers which are not of prescribed standard is strictly prohibited. Under clause 8 of FCO, it is mandatory to obtain the Authorization Letter from the notified Authority for sale of fertilizers.

No case of large scale manufacture/ sale or distribution of sub-standard fertilizers has been brought to the notice of the Government of India.

The State Governments are adequately empowered to take appropriate action against the sale of non-standard fertilizers. Violation of provisions of FCO can invite penal action, including prosecution of offenders. The offender who is convicted may be awarded the sentence upto seven years` imprisonment under ECA, besides cancellation of authorization certificate. There are 71 fertilizer testing laboratories including four laboratories of the Government of Indian at Faridabad, Kalyani, Mumbai and Chennai with an annual analyzing capacity of 1.32 lakh samples. During the year 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09, the percentages of samples of fertilizers declared non-standard at all India level were 6.0%, 6.2% and 5.5% respectively. Information available on follow up action taken in 2008-09 with regard to non standard samples of fertilizers state-wise is annexed. Moreover state governments have been sensitized from time to time on the issue of sales, manufacture, distribution and quality of fertilizers conforming to FCO standards.