The Department of Fertilizers has been entrusted the responsibility of ensuring movement, distribution and allocation of subsidised chemical fertilizers, i.e. urea, from various fertilizer plants and ports in accordance with the State-wise requirement assessed by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation (DAC). Every month fertilizers supply plan are made to cater to the requirement of state/Ups
Work Allocation
The Department of Fertilizers has been entrusted the responsibility of ensuring movement, distribution and allocation of subsidised chemical fertilizers, from various fertilizer plants and ports in accordance with the State-wise requirement assessed by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation and farmers Welfare (DAC & FW). The distribution of imported urea is made keeping in view the requirements of each of the States/Ups.
1. The function of movement division is season wise(rabi & kharif) assessment of subsidised chemical fertilizers(urea,DAP,MOP & NPK) in consultation with department of agriculture and co-operationand farmers Welfare (DAC & FW) and to ensure the availability of various fertilizers to the farmers in the country various steps have been taken by the Department of Fertilizers:-
2. FERTILIZER ASSESSMENT:
i) The assessment of the requirement of chemical fertilizers i.e. Urea, DAP, MOP & NPK for each season is finalized by Department of Agriculture and Cooperationand farmers Welfare (DAC & FW)in consultation with, DOF, States, Railways, Fertilizers Association of India, Companies and other stake holders.
ii) For this, biannual Zonal Conferences are held before start of each cropping season i.e. Kharif (April to September) and Rabi (October to March).
3. PREPARATION OF SUPPLY PLAN:
i) To fulfill the monthly requirement as projected by DAC & FW, Movement Division prepares agreed supply plan in consultation with Manufacturers / Importers.
ii) Though 50% of indigenously produced Urea and 20% of the Phosphatic & Potashic fertilizers (DAP, MOP and NPK) Indigenous / Imported are regulated under clause(6) of the Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985 but the department continues to draw the agreed monthly supply plan of all the fertilizers in consultation with the manufacturers and importers as per Fertilizer (Movement) Control Order, 1973.
iii) The monthly supply plan is prepared keeping in view the following factors:-
* Approximately 50% supply should be from indigenous sources.
*Established marketing zones of the companies.
*Keeping the lead distance as minimum as possible.
iv) The agreed monthly supply plan is issued before 25th of each month for the next month.
v) The fertilizers are mainly transported through railways and for this purpose directions are issued to all suppliers to maintain 80:20 ratio i.e. 80% of the total quantity to be moved through railways and 20% by road.
4. MONITORING OF FERTILIZERS:
i) Weekly Video conference is conducted jointly by DAC & FW, DoF, Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials, corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments.
ii) The gap in the requirement and indigenous production of Fertilizers is met through imports.
iv) DoF ensures availability of fertilizers at State level, State Governments are responsible for equitable distribution as per District/ Block level requirement.
5. IMPORT OF FERTILIZERS:
i) Import of urea for direct agriculture use is made on Government Account through STEs viz. STC, MMTC & IPL to bridge the gap between indigenous availability and assessed demand.
ii) The Steering Committee of Secretaries (SCOS) under the chairmanship of Secretary (Fertilisers) and consisting Secretary (Agriculture), Secretary (Expenditure), Commerce Secretary, Secretary (Shipping) and Chairman Railway Board as members, decides the quantity of urea to be imported in each cropping season i.e. Kharif & Rabi.
iii) Government of India, through Department of Fertilizers (DoF), has entered into a long term Urea Off-Take Agreement (UOTA) with Oman India Fertilizer Company (OMIFCO), Sur, Oman to lift its entire production of granular urea in first 15 years of the production of the company. Import of urea from OMIFCO is made through M/s IFFCO & KRIBHCO. The rated capacity of OMIFCO plant is 1.652 million MTs per annum. At present OMIFCO is producing about 2 million MTs granular urea per annum.
iv) P&K Fertilizer (DAP, MOP and NPK) are under Open General Licence (OGL) as per Foreign Trade Policy.
Work Allocation - Shipping
The Shipping –I section of DOF is entrusted with the post fixture work of vessels arriving with Urea cargo imported on Govt. account, including granular urea shipment from Oman to India under Urea Off Take Agreement with OMIFCO. Post fixture work of shipping and port operations include are as follows :-
- Examining the specifications of the vessels contained in the fixture note issued by the Chartering wing of M/O Shipping and terms and conditions of port nomination message issued by the Shipping II section for coordinating II section for coordinating with handling agents of DOF at the ports in receiving the cargo;
- Examining the shipping documents received from the suppliers of the cargo associating with the handling agents in completing the inward entry documentation required by the port;
- Examining the terms, conditions and exceptions of the Charter Party Agreement (CP) of the vessel for ascertaining the feasibility in handling operation;
- Monitoring the discharge and evacuation of cargo at the ports;
- Settlement of demurrage/dispatch at the load and discharge port and finalizing the Lay Time calculations in terms of CP;
- Examining the Joint Draft Survey Report to ascertain the quality and quantity of urea cargo received;
- Defending the interest of UOI in marine arbitration and court matters.
Apart from this, Shipping –I section is also monitoring the arrival of other grades of fertilizers like DAP and MOP on private account to ascertain the availability and requirement of the material for agronomic purpose. Moreover, Shipping-I is also entrusted with the work of movement of fertilizers through Coastal shipping and inland water ways. The coastal shipping has come under the ambit of uniform freight subsidy and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for this mode of transportation has been notified vide order No. 12018/11/2007-FPP dated 18th March, 2010, which is available in the website.
Shipping-II
Shipping-II section in the Department of Fertilizers is looking after pre-fixture work of vessels arriving with urea cargo on government account including shipments of granular urea from OMIFCO under Urea Off Take Agreement (UOTA):-
- Monitoring the production, stock and daily rate of production of granular urea by Oman India Fertilizer Company (OMIFCO).
- Examination of specifications of vessels offered by TRANS-CHART (a chartering wing of Department of Shipping) for loading urea cargo.
- Examination of fixture note and Charter Party terms, conditions and exceptions.
- Fixation of urea vessels including OMIFCO urea and nomination of discharge port.
- Study of general average cases and preparation of brief/write-ups for counsels in maritime arbitrations.
- Co-ordination with OMIFCO, Handling Agents (IFFCO and KRIBHCO) and TRANS-CHART regarding shipping arrangements.