The Bangaaru Vaickal Neeraadhara Koottamaippu, a farmers and water rights’ collective, has sought the intervention of the Lt. Governor in resolving the overpricing of fertilizers in the open market.
In a memorandum to Lt. Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan, Chief Secretary and other officials, V. Chandrasekhar, president of the collective, explained that the farmers in Bahour and nearby agricultural areas, who were engaged in the Navarai paddy crop after the first and second weeding, were forced to buy fertilizer from shops at an additional cost of ₹50 per unit.
The memorandum pointed out that as per Fertiliser (Control) Order 1985, Section 3 (3), overcharging by a fertiliser seller is an offence. Besides, as per Sector 4 (a), every fertilizer dealer/shop has to prominently display the stock-status of all items for sale and as per Section 4 (b), the selling price of each fertilizer need to be displayed.
In addition to this, as per Section 5 (a) the dealer has to issue a Receipt for the sale to the buyer, but none of the fertilizer shops follow these guidelines forcing the farmers to pay what the sellers demand who do not display the selling price of the fertilizers.
However, in the absence of fertilizer inspectors from the Agriculture Department, the farmers were being fleeced by private shops due to the overcharging of agriculture inputs.
In distress
The memorandum said the overpricing was happening at a time when farmers were already in distress due to lack of a mechanism to ensure a proper price for their agriculture produce and the absence of measures by the Agriculture Department to procure the agriculture produce through the Food Corporation of India.
The memorandum called for an effective intervention to ensure proper oversight over the sale of agricultural inputs to avoid fleecing of farmers by the market. Moreover, with the government institution PASIC no longer functional, the Agriculture Department should make immediate alternative arrangements to supply quality agriculture inputs like fertilizers without hassles at nominal prices.
Though announcements and assurances were made in last year’s Budget that agriculture department would make available biofertilizers, vermicompost and other inputs at subsidised rates, these remained unfulfilled. The collective called for measures during the current naravai season to provide microbial or biofertilizers or natural inputs at subsidised rates to farmers.
As a long-term measure, the memorandum sought a full-fledged plan/budgetary allocation for agriculture to be formulated in consultation with farmers.
