House panel flags fertilizer shortage, calls for proper mechanism to address it

Published 6 August 2026 · politics

Citing recurring reports of shortages, farmer protests and distribution-related disruptions despite repeated assurances about adequate availability of fertilizers, the Parliament Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers demanded the Union government institutionalise a permanent joint fertilizer command and monitoring cell, comprising the Department of Fertilizers, the Department of Agriculture, the Railways, and the State governments to provide “continuous, real-time coordination” on the supply of fertilizers during every cropping season. The report, on the ‘Alignment of logistics for efficient fertilizer movement and availability at affordable prices during peak season and steps taken to curb forced bundling of unnecessary boosters with essential fertilizers’, which was tabled on Thursday (August 6, 2026) in both the Houses, also said the Union government’s interventions to ensure adequate supply of input materials for fertilizer production during the ongoing war in West Asia were “largely reactive” and not guided by “a pre-existing institutionalised contingency framework” for foreseeable disruptions at critical maritime chokepoints, including the Strait of Hormuz.

The panel, headed by Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad, also noted that the Centre limits its role to ensuring State-level availability, with the last-mile distribution treated “solely as” a State responsibility, blaming such an approach as inadequate addressing recurring supply bottlenecks. The absence of a robust permanent institutional mechanism for coordinated Centre-State monitoring and timely intervention had contributed to persistent gaps in last-mile delivery, the panel said, suggesting the formation of a permanent joint fertilizer command and monitoring cell. Noticing “persistent underperformance” of new generation urea plants, the panel said they continued to operate significantly below their potential despite being counted amongst the country’s latest manufacturing facilities. It recommended that all future technology transfer, and engineering and equipment supply contracts for fertilizer public sector undertakings and joint ventures must incorporate robust performance guarantees and warranty obligations to ensure the financial consequences of technology failure were borne by the supplier and not by the public exchequer.

It also recommended an urgent plant-wise diagnostic assessment of all underutilised and idle diammonium phosphate units to identify the raw material, technical, commercial and operational constraints limiting production. On the preparedness for the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, the panel called for an institutionalised contingency framework beyond ad hoc crisis response. It observed that the disruption led to a sharp decline in domestic urea production due to gas curtailment, delays in fertilizer shipments, and a substantial increase in freight and insurance costs. The proposed framework, the panel said, should provide for priority gas allocation, pre-identified alternate sourcing and shipping routes, strategic buffer stock norms, coordinated logistics planning and periodic simulation exercises to ensure preparedness for future disruptions. In another report, titled ‘Evaluation of Implementation of the Fertilizer (Movement Control) Order, 1973’, keeping in view the shortcomings in enforcement, a comprehensive review of the Fertilizer (Movement Control) Order, 1973 was necessary.