Lok Sabha Question No. 133 (STARRED), answered on 2016-05-03
Subject: Production and Consumption of Urea
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

## DEPARTMENT OF FERTILISERS

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO.133 * TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.05.2016

## Production and Consumption of Urea

- *133 DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL ' NISHANK': DR. J.JAYAVARDHAN:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:-

- (a) the production and consumption of urea in the country at present ;
- (b) the gap between demand and supply of urea along with the targets fixed for the next three years;
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to eliminate the shortage and irregularities in  supply of urea ; and
- (d) the steps being taken by the Government to ensure regular supply of fertilizers in backward, remote and hilly areas of the country ?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS

(SHRI ANANTH KUMAR)

- (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *133 FOR REPLY ON 03.05.2016REGARDING PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF UREA.

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- (a) :  The production and consumption of urea in the country  for the year 2015-16 are given below:-

(Figure in 'LMT')

| Product   |   Production |   Consumption/Sale |
|-----------|--------------|--------------------|
| Urea      |       244.75 |             319.64 |

- (b):    The  demand  of  fertilizers  is  assessed  and  projected  season-wise  by  the Department of Agriculture, Co-operation & Farmers' Welfare (DAC&FW) in consultation with the State Governments  for which bi-annual conferences are held before commencement of each cropping season. The gap between demand and production is met  through  imports.  The  requirement  for  Kharif  2016(April  to  September,  2016),  as assessed by DAC&FW is 155.13 LMT which includes reserve allocation of 7.74 LMT. The requirement(demand) is  fulfilled  through  indigenous  production  and  imports.  The season-wise target for next 3 years, as per the system in vogue, will be fixed before commencement of the season.

(c)& (d):  To ensure adequate availability as per demand and to eliminate the shortage and  irregularities  in  supply  of  Urea  in  all  parts  of  the  country  including  in  backward, remote and hilly areas, the Department of Fertilizers takes following steps: -

- (1) The  month-wise  demand  is  assessed  and  projected  by  the  Department  of Agriculture & Co-operation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) in consultation with the State Governments before commencement of each cropping season.
- (2) On  the basis of  month-wise  &  state-wise  projection  given  by  DAC&FW, Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficient/ adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by  issuing  monthly  supply  plan  and  continuously  monitors  the  availability  through following system: -
3. (i) The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system (www.urvarak.co.in) also called as Fertilizer Monitoring System (FMS);

(ii) The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement  of  indents  for  railway  rakes  through  their  state  institutional  agencies  like Markfed etc.

(iii)      Regular  Weekly  Video  Conference  is  conducted  jointly  by  Department  of Agriculture & Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Department of Fertilizers (DoF) and Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments.

(iv)   The gap between demand (requirement) and production is met through import.

3. Apart from above, in the year 2015-16, Government of India notified New Urea Policy  2015  on  account  of  which  the  indigenous  production  has  increased  by  18.90 LMT.

4. Further, Government of India has made it mandatory to 100% neem coating of indigenous Urea as well as imported Urea, which has resulted in curbing diversion, thus, improving availability of Urea.

5. States were impressed upon for pre-positioning of Urea before the start of the year 2015-16 and in the lean months of February'15 and March'15 about 24.80 LMT Urea was pre-positioned with the States, which helped in eliminating any shortage and irregularities in supply of Urea.

6.    Timely imports were planned spreading across Eastern and Western Ports, which resulted in filling the gap between requirement and indigenous production.

7. Record number of railway rakes were deployed to move fertilizers to every nook and  corner  of  the  country,  which  resulted  in  availability  of  fertilizers  in  adequate quantity as per demand throughout the year and no report of shortages was received from any State.

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