Ranchi: Apprehending that the fertiliser situation may worsen due to the West Asia, the state agriculture department has decided to deploy teams across the 24 districts to assess its availability and curb hoarding.Agriculture minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey said, “A team has been formed to analyse the situation and carry out a comparison between the consumption of fertilisers vis-a-vis last year and this year’s requirement.”“The state can only monitor the situation, conduct raids and lodge FIRs against defaulters. Hoarding for upcoming season will not be allowed,” Tirkey said, adding that the situation was bad last year. “We apprehend that the situation will worsen due to the ongoing crisis in West Asia as a considerable amount of fertilisers are imported from the Gulf.”Only three to four companies produce urea in the country and that too they are reducing production by over 50%, the minister said. “We send the requirement to Centre and the govt makes the allotment statewise. It is entirely under the control of the Centre,” she said.The minister claimed that she has spoken to the Union govt on the issue but did not get a proper reply. “I don’t think that the Centre has a plan regarding management of fertilisers.”An official said the Centre’s urea allotment to the state for Kharif crop last year was around 1,70,000 metric tonnes while this year it is 1,90,000 MT.Notably, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Anupriya S. Patel, minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, informed that fertilisers are declared as essential commodities under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and notified under the Fertiliser Control Order, 1985, empowering state governments to take action against offenders.Since April 2025, enforcement agencies have conducted 4,66,415 raids, issued 16,246 show cause notices, suspended or cancelled 6,802 licences, and registered 821 FIRs against violators. Specifically, in Feb 2026, 28 show cause notices were issued, 2 licences were suspended/cancelled, and 2 FIRs were registered in connection with hoarding cases. These measures reflect the Govt’s determination to safeguard farmers from unfair practices.The availability of fertilisers such as urea, DAP, MOP and NPKS has remained adequate in the country during the ongoing Rabi 2025-26 season, the PIB statement said.
