By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s farmers can look forward to more fertiliser with the government working out an action plan to revive five public sector fertiliser units, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan said here Tuesday.
An investment policy was being worked out to revive the closed public sector fertiliser units, he said, reiterating the government’s commitment to ensuring adequate supply of all types of fertilisers to farmers.
Paswan, who unveiled his ministry’s four-year report card, said the state-owned National Fertiliser Limited (NFL) would revive units at Barauni and Ramagundam. The units at Durgapur and Talcher would be taken care of by the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF).
The Krishak Bharati Cooperative (Kribhco) would revive the Gorakhpur unit, which was shut down May 1999.
According to the minister, the process of revival would be completed within four years, with each unit producing at least one million tonnes of fertiliser per annum.
He said that 27.71 million tonnes of urea was available in 2007-08 against which only 26.16 million tonnes was sold.
Paswan said the anticipated subsidy on fertilisers in 2008-09 was Rs.950 billion against Rs.403 billion in 2007-08.
“With a strong commitment to farmers, the government will keep on bearing the cost difference in the form of subsidy so that the price of fertilisers does not change,” he said.
In order to meet the requirement of phosphoric acid, said Paswan, the government was making all possible efforts to encourage joint ventures in the field of phosphoric fertilisers.
“RCF is in talks with IDC and Foskar of South Africa for setting up an integrated fertiliser plant in Mozambique based on rock phosphate and gas. Talks are in an advanced stage and details are being worked out,” he said.