Majority of farmers unaware of fertiliser MRPs: CAG

Over 56 per cent of Indian farmers are not aware about the maximum retail prices (MRP) of fertilisers they buy, while 45 per cent fork out more than the MRP and 59 per cent face problems in getting their season's full requirement in time.

These are the startling findings of a countrywide survey of 5,498 farmers conducted by field audit teams of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and reported in its ‘Performance Audit of Fertiliser Subsidy' tabled in the Parliament on Friday.

The survey, conducted during June 2009 and March 2010, reveals marked inter-State disparities with regard to pricing and availability of fertilisers at the farmer level.

Absence of awareness

The absence of awareness about MRP of fertilisers is as high as 98 per cent in Jharkhand, 97 per cent in Bihar and Assam, 96 per cent in West Bengal, 89 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 79 per cent in Rajasthan, 68 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 64 per cent in Kerala, 60 per cent in Jammu & Kashmir and 59 per cent in Tamil Nadu.

The levels of ignorance are somewhat lower in Chhattisgarh (35 per cent), Maharashtra and Orissa (24 per cent each), Andhra Pradesh (20 per cent), Karnataka (19 per cent) and Gujarat (17 per cent).

The awareness among farmers about MRPs is, not surprisingly, the highest in the two Green Revolution States of Punjab and Haryana. 89 per cent of farmers in Haryana and 100 per cent in Punjab knew the MRPs from the list shown to them by the CAG field audit teams.

Moreover, not a single surveyed farmer in Punjab reported buying fertilisers at above the MRP. In 99 per cent of cases, they got receipts from the dealers on their purchases.

Artificial shortages

In contrast, almost all farmers in West Bengal complained of artificial shortages created by dealers during peak seasons, forcing them to purchase fertilisers above the MRP. In Bihar, 71 per cent of farmers bought fertilisers from unregistered dealers and 99 per cent did not get any receipts.

The other significant finding of the CAG survey is the apparently lower extent of short-changing of farmers in States, where fertiliser sales take place through cooperative societies rather than private dealers.

Thus, in Orissa, 93 per cent of farmers buy from cooperative outlets and, probably as a result, only 24 per cent reported making purchases at above the MRP. A similar situation prevails in Chhattisgarh, where 65 per cent of farmers accessed fertilisers from cooperatives and 87 per cent did not pay more than the MRP.

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