Centre to bring stricter law to deal with fake fertilisers
The Centre is preparing to introduce a stricter law to tackle the issue of fake fertilisers and spurious agricultural inputs — a problem that, according to a recent study, accounts for 40% of total sales by value and causes economic losses to farmers by reducing overall output, HT has learnt.
The country already has provisions that ban and criminalise sale of counterfeit pesticides and fertilisers, but seizures and crackdowns are not commonplace. The new law will have harsher punishment and target supply chains, an official said.
Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had recently flagged the issue, urging farmers not to overuse agricultural chemicals and limit their use to prescribed limits, apart from warning marketeers of fake fertilisers of stern action.
Under current provisions, the federal fertiliser control order 1985 (clause 19) lays down technical specifications for each type of fertiliser approved for farm-use sale, making illegal the marketing of agrochemicals not meeting these standards.
However, sale of substandard, fake or adulterated fertilisers is currently punishable under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, a law that is meant to regulate and maintain supply of goods, and often 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 said.
Fake products cut over 10 million tonnes of potential agricultural output in the world's most populous country, according to a 2015 study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI). The value of illegal pesticides, for instance, has been expanding by nearly 20% a year, according to the study's findings.
Farmers often complain of lack of accountability for the spurious sales. In 2023, the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, while uncovering the diversion of subsidised urea, had seized 70,000 bags of potentially counterfeit products. Counterfeiters manage to penetrate rural markets by copying packaging and labelling of genuine brands, a second official said.
On May 30, the Rajasthan government sealed 34 factories and lodged 12 first information reports on fake fertiliser sales.
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