The Agriculture Department has made it compulsory for retail fertilizer dealers to transact using Point of Sale (PoS) devices from January 1.
It has directed all retailers in the district to obtain the machines, which are being distributed for free. The dealers have also been cautioned that their licence will be cancelled if they fail to use PoS machines come January.
Somasundra, Joint Director of Agriculture, told The Hindu that FACT, a leading fertilizer company in Mysuru district, is supplying the devices to retailers for free. He advised the dealers to obtain the machines as soon as possible and start using them now so that teething problems, if any, can be rectified.
Agriculture officer S. Nagendra said there are at least 403 retail fertilizer dealers in the district, and the department has taken up a drive to motivate dealers in all the taluks to obtain and use PoS machines. No dealer will be allowed to operate without the device from January 1, he said.
He added that the Union government was giving over ₹60,000 crore as fertilizer subsidy to companies and it wanted to ensure the amount is not be misused and end users (farmers) get the complete benefit.
He said the farmer’s or buyer’s identity will be verified through Aadhaar-based biometric authentication/ voter ID card/ Kissan Credit Card, and the fertilizer buyer’s details will be captured in the PoS device installed at the retailer’s shop. The machine will be connected to a central server.
148 on board
Shankar, zonal manager, FACT, said that of the 403 dealers, 148 have obtained the devices and efforts are on to convince the others to do the same. Meanwhile, there are over 200 unregistered dealers in the district, Mr. Shankar said. He asked such dealers to get registered and obtain the PoS machines after getting their mobile Fertilizer Monitoring System identity.
Mr. Nagendra said 1.1 lakh tonnes of fertilizer is required in the district for the kharif season, 32,000 tonnes for rabi season, and 43,000 tonnes for summer crops.
