The direct benefit transfer (DBT) in fertilizers is expected to introduce rationing of the soil supplement in the next couple of years, once the soil health cards of all farmers are made available on the portals concerned.
Although the immediate objective of the scheme, according to officials, is streamlining the claims of subsidy by fertilizer manufacturers besides preventing their misuse (diversion) by mixing plants by repackaging fertilizers as several complex varieties and make huge profits. Telangana State is going-live in the implementation of DBT in fertilizers from January 1 along with 11 other States and the arrangements are in the final stages.
Agriculture Production Commissioner C. Parthasarathi told The Hindu that against the requirement of 7,236 point of sale (PoS) devices to be placed at all retail dealers of fertilizers, 6,500 have been installed till Sunday and they have plans to complete the installation of devices by December 20 so that stocks could be entered into the devices by December 25.
Unlike in the DBT in other schemes such as domestic LPG cylinders, the beneficiary (farmer) in the fertilizer DBT pays only subsidised price while purchasing the soil fertility supplement and based on the sales, the fertilizer manufacturers are released subsidy by the Centre. Whereas, in DBT for LPG cylinders the beneficiary pays the market price while taking the delivery of the cooking fuel and gets the reimbursement of subsidy in his bank account, the APC explained.
“There will be no fertilizer sales in the State without PoS from January 1 and the farmers can purchase the soil supplement only by linking (producing) his/her Aadhaar number. In the coming months, land records and soil health cards will also linked to fertilizer DBT and an advisory is generated on the actual requirement of fertilizers for that particular landholding”, Mr. Parthasarathi said.
It would ultimately reduce investment on fertilizers, reduce unnecessary burden on the farmers besides protecting the soil health. Later, the rationing of fertilizers could come into picture with the Centre releasing only required quantity of the soil supplements to every State based on requirement calculated in tune with the soil health.
The major challenge in the implementation of fertilizer DBT is ensuring the connectivity to PoS devices for their smooth operation as there is minimal Information Technology infrastructure in rural areas.
However, it is likely to help the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to monitor the availability of soil supplements till the retail dealer level through the Fertilizer Management System (FMS) software.
