Centre to convey stricter legislation to take care of faux fertilisers

The nation already has provisions that ban and criminalise sale of counterfeit pesticides and fertilisers, however seizures and crackdowns will not be commonplace. The new legislation may have harsher punishment and goal provide chains, an official mentioned.

Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had not too long ago flagged the problem, urging farmers to not overuse agricultural chemical substances and restrict their use to prescribed limits, aside from warning marketeers of pretend fertilisers of stern motion.

Under present provisions, the federal fertiliser management order 1985 (clause 19) lays down technical specs for every kind of fertiliser accepted for farm-use sale, making unlawful the advertising and marketing of agrochemicals not assembly these requirements.

However, sale of substandard, faux or adulterated fertilisers is at the moment punishable below the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, a legislation that’s meant to control and keep provide of products, and sometimes used to crack down on hoarding and tame inflation.

“The government wants to bring a strict law that is specifically meant to penalise sale of illegal and fake fertilisers and farm chemicals,” the official mentioned.

Fake merchandise lower over 10 million tonnes of potential agricultural output on this planet’s most populous nation, based on a 2015 research by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI). The worth of unlawful pesticides, for example, has been increasing by practically 20% a yr, based on the research’s findings.

Farmers usually complain of lack of accountability for the spurious gross sales. In 2023, the ministry of chemical substances and fertilisers, whereas uncovering the diversion of subsidised urea, had seized 70,000 baggage of probably counterfeit merchandise. Counterfeiters handle to penetrate rural markets by copying packaging and labelling of real manufacturers, a second official mentioned.

On May 30, the Rajasthan authorities sealed 34 factories and lodged 12 first data experiences on faux fertiliser gross sales.

“Vigilance has been strengthened over time. There is also a district quality control mechanism for awareness and vigilance at the field level on the regular basis. Farmers usually discover they used spurious products when they don’t see the desired results. By then, they already suffer losses,” mentioned Deshraj Dahiya, a former scientist with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Fake merchandise might not simply have inactive components, however they usually comprise dangerous contaminants, he mentioned.