"We are going to introduce the Farmer Card system to minimize the misuse of subsidy being provided in fertilizer and seeds in the name of farmers. The card will also be used as a tool to identify bonafide farmers for concessional agriculture loan," Nandan Kumar Dutta, Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives, told Republica on Sunday.
The move comes amid rising resentment from farmers about the misuse of subsidized chemical fertilizers by cooperatives, which allegedly sell the fertilizers to traders at higher price instead of distributing to the needy poor farmers, sparking protests from farmers demanding fertilizers in major farming seasons.
The government has announced a subsidy of Rs 3.81 billion in the current budget for providing fertilizer subsidy to farmers.
"In the first phase, we are going to distribute the cards to farmers in half a dozen districts in Tarai, which are key farm districts and facing shortage of chemical fertilizers and seeds," said Dr. Hari Dahal, spokesperson of MoAC.
The MoAC has already prepared the specimen of the Farmer Card and initiated the process of formulating the guidelines as to who will distribute the subsidized agriculture inputs and concessional loan to farmers.
To speed up the process, Dutta called a meeting of top officials of the MoAC and directed to set the target of launching the card by November 6. The card which will be designed in packet size will includes name, address, citizenship number and types of concession in the prices of agriculture inputs and others facilities to be given by the government. "The card will be provided to those who are the owners of land," Dutta said.
The government has also been preparing to give subsidy in diesel or petrol to run water pump, agriculture tools, cattle insurance premium and vaccine for cattle. India has already been providing such concession card to farmers to encourage farm production.
The MoAC is preparing to distribute the card through District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) on the recommendation of VDCs to ensure that subsidy and other facilities given to poor farmers are not misused by others.
Amid rising complaints against the misuse of subsidized fertilizers, Dutta also instructed the Registrar of Department of Cooperatives to immediately take action against cooperatives which are involved in such irregularities.
"We are not only controlling such irregularities in distribution of chemical fertilizers but also encouraging the use of organic fertilizers to eases the rising deficit of fertilizers in the country on the back of tight borders policy by India to check smuggling of chemical fertilizers to Nepal," said Dutta.
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