Indian fertilizer firms to sign MoU with suppliers in Togo soon

Public sector firm Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) is exploring the possibility of sourcing required grade of rock phosphate from Mauritania while some of the Indian fertilizer companies are finalising to sign memorandum of understanding (MoU) with fertilizer suppliers of Togo as part of India’s plan to secure uninterrupted supply of the crop nutrients.

According to the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on chemicals and fertilizers, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Kirti Azad, the government has been facilitating Indian fertilizer companies to sign agreements, MoUs and establish joint ventures with fertilizer companies in resource-rich countries in order to ensure sufficiency of raw materials/intermediates and finished fertilizers.

“Accordingly the Department of Fertilizers has initiated interactions with representatives from various countries such as Togo, Nauru, Russia and Belarus to explore potential agreements for the procurement of raw materials at competitive prices,” the report said. India and Togoiese fertilizer companies are finalising MoU for supply of rock phosphate to India while RCF is exploring possibility of supply of rock phosphate from Mauritania.

It also appreciated that the Mission of the Department of Fertilizers is to ensure adequate and timely availability of quality fertilizers at affordable prices in each cropping season to the 140 million farmers across the country through planned production, imports and timely distribution. The committee expect the government to actively consider the feasibility of acquisition of mining lease with raw material rich countries, according to the report.

panel dismayed

However, the panel is dismayed to find that the position of preferential allotment of mineral mines in favour of fertilizer PSUs for exploration of raw materials changed with the recent notification of the Ministry of Mines incorporating phosphatic and potassic minerals in the list of “Critical and Strategic Minerals” opening them for auction to maximize revenue for the State necessitating fertilizer companies to participate in the auction process for acquisition of any new mines.

“Intriguingly while the fertilizer sector was placed in the ‘Non-Strategic Sector’ necessitating disinvestment of the fertilizer PSUs, other notified phosphatic and potassic minerals were placed in the list of “Critical and Strategic Minerals”. The committee find this apparently contradictory,” the report said.

Keeping in view the historical role of fertilizer PSUs in the production of fertilizers for the country, the committee desires that they may be given preference in the allotment of mineral mines.

In another suggestion, the panel said that though the government has been implementing direct benefit transfer (DBT) in fertilizers on since 2018 by making 100 per cent payment of subsidy to fertilizer manufacturing companies on the basis of actual sales, it is time to roll out direct cash transfer.

The committee appreciated the steps taken to explore possibility of using the PM-KISAN database to implement a pilot Direct Cash Transfer project in selected districts based on their data on Farmers’ Registration as maintained by the Agriculture Ministry. “The Department of Fertilizers has asked the Agriculture Ministry to develop a module for entitlement using land, cropping pattern, soil health data of the farmer in July 2024,” it said.