47,000-tonne China scam hits farmers

Karaikal: Worried over the supply of 10,000 tonnes of sub-standard Chinese fertilizers imported by a private dealer here from China, farmers in Karaikal have urged the territorial government to order a thorough probe into the incident and compensate them for the deficient quality of fertilisers which could result in long term damage to the soil.

Sources in the Department of Agriculture said that about 47,000 tonnes of fertilisers including Urea and DAP were imported by Zuari Agro Chemicals from China recently. However, following an advisory from the Puducherry Fertilizer Quality Control Department that the Chinese fertilisers did not meet the required standards, a team led by Additional Director of Agriculture, Madiazhagan withheld the shipment at the warehouse maintained by the Karaikal port in the premises.  Farmers in Karaikal and the delta districts of Tamil Nadu are shocked as about 10,000 tonnes of the deficient fertilisers have already been released to the farmers.

A senior official in the Department of Agriculture on anonymity said that the company had been found importing sub-standard fertilizers. When officials from the Fertilizer Quality Control examined the shipments in the warehouse it was found that the consignment did not meet the required standard of Nitrogen and Potash contents. We have asked the authorities of the Karaikal port not to unload the shipment till further orders, he said.

“The territorial government should order a thorough probe into the incident and ban import of fertilisers from China. Apart from falling short of providing the promised performance sub-standard fertilisers would also cause long term damage to the soil and poor farmers have to bear the brunt,” S. Ilangovan, National Executive Member, Kisan Morcha told Deccan Chronicle.

Already the area under agriculture in Karaikal has dropped from 18,500 hectares in 1995 to a mere 4,700 hectares now. If deficient fertilizers penetrate into the market it would only aggravate the situation and affect the livelihood of farmers in the region. Since 10,000 tonnes of these deficient fertilisers have already been released by the dealer the Government should compensate farmers, he added.