Question : DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF FERTILIZERS

(a) whether the farmers are facing acute problems on account of non-availability and shortage of chemical fertilizers on the country; if so the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(b) the details of production, demand, supply, availability, distribution and consumption of various fertilizers in the country during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT and fertilizer-wise;

(c) the details of complaints received from the States regarding non-availability and shortage of fertilizers to the farmers during rabi and kharif seasons along with the action taken thereon, State /UT-wise, and

(d) the steps being taken by the Government to ensure adequate supply of fertilizers to the states in time and to achieve self sufficiency in fertilizer production?

MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (SHRI ANANTH KUMAR)

(a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 21 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.11.2014 REGARDING DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF FRTILIZERS.

(a) & (b): Statements showing state/UT-wise and fertilizer- wise demand (requirement), supply plan (distribution), availability (Supply) and sales (consumption) of all the fertilizers in the country for the last three years and current sowing season (upto October, 2014) are Annexed at A to D respectively and details of production related information can be seen at Annexure E. (i) to E(iii).

(c) : It can be seen from the above statements that availability has been adequate vis-à-vis the actual consumption (sales). Distribution within the state is the responsibility of the concerned state Government. However, requests from certain states for expediting the supply were received and appropriate action was taken to make the supply smooth.

(d) : The following steps are being taken by the Government to provide adequate supply of fertilizers to the farmers in all the States/UTs:

1. The month-wise demand is assessed and projected by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation (DAC) in consultation with the State Governments before commencement of each cropping season.

2. On the basis of month-wise & state-wise projection given by DAC, Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficient/adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing monthly supply plan and continuously monitors the availability through following system:-

(i) The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is being monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system (www.urvarak.co.in) also called as Fertilizer Monitoring System (FMS);

(ii) The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents for railway rakes through their state institutional agencies like Markfed etc.

(iii) Regular Weekly Video Conference is conducted jointly by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Department of Fertilizers (DoF), and Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments.

(iv) The gap in the demand and domestic production of fertilizer is met through imports.

Regarding self-sufficiency in fertilizers production, it is mentioned that the Government had notified the New Investment Policy (NIP)-2012 on 2nd January, 2012 to facilitate fresh investment in urea sector in future to reduce India’s import dependency in urea production and to achieve self-sufficiency in fertilizer production.