Study on fertiliser DBT points to security issues, need to train retailers

An assessment of direct benefit transfer (DBT) in fertiliser carried out in six districts found that most farmers gave a thumbs-up to the scheme, but highlighted that some retailers had maintained details of Aadhaar numbers in their registers, which could lead to privacy issues.

The findings were part of a dipstick evaluation conducted by MicroSave earlier this year in six districts, where a pilot on Aadhaar-enabled Fertiliser Distribution Service (AeFDS) was run and the report submitted to the NITI Aayog. The six districts are Rangareddy (Telagana), Pali (Rajasthan), Una (Himachal Pradesh), Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh), Krishna and West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh).

Keen to cut down leakages and lower its subsidy bill of ₹70,000 crore this fiscal, the government has been working on rolling out DBT to farmers across all districts.

Under the model, the subsidy will be released to the fertiliser companies, rather than the beneficiaries, after the sale is made by the retailers to the beneficiaries after biometric authentication. It was being undertaken in over 16 districts with plans for a nationwide rollout later this year.

“Retailers in Pali and Hoshangabad districts have maintained farmer details such as name, mobile number, Aadhaar number and village. Farmers do not carry their Aadhaar card with them all the time. So, every time a farmer visits the retail outlet, he or she does not need to take Aadhaar card along,” said the report, noting that while it could be a serious privacy issue, it did ease the work.

The report has suggested the need for a code of practice for retailers and for all others who handle Aadhaar data.

However, on the whole, the survey found that along with the Mobile Fertiliser Management System, the AeFDS or DBT in fertiliser increased the accountability of stakeholders and enhanced transparency.

In fact, nearly 300 retailers did not board the MFMS system and also did not renew their licences after the implementation of AeFDS.

It also found that while the groundwork and training of retailers was commendable along with good network connectivity of point of sale (PoS) machines, awareness amongst farmers about the new fertiliser distribution system was low. “About 88 per cent of the farmers were unaware of the need to produce Aadhaar at the retail outlet to purchase fertiliser,” it said.

However, 10 per cent of the total transactions were estimated to be “adjusted transactions”, that is, someone other than the buyer authenticating the purchase through his/her Aadhaar, either during the sale or later for reconciliation.

The average transaction time was halved to five minutes in the initial pilot phase and 35 per cent of transactions were successfully authenticated using Aadhaar in the first attempt, the report added. However, retailers were worried over a high transaction time, saying they may not be able to serve customers during the peak kharif season.

MicroSave surveyed 200 retailers and 1,734 farmers and also conducted qualitative in-depth polls with 69 retailers and 75 farmers in the six districts.

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