New licences for fertiliser, pesticide sale and manufacture banned in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, October 26

The Punjab Government has imposed a ban on issuing of new licences for sale and manufacture of pesticides and fertilisers in the state. The ban has been imposed reportedly to check the sale of spurious pesticides and fertilisers.

Youth, farmers against decision

The move has not gone down well with farmers and youths, who feel that the move will kill employment opportunity for many. Gurbakshish Singh, a farmer from Nabha, said many youth had applied for the licence, after having completed a one-year diploma course in agriculture sciences.

The orders in this regard have been issued to all Chief Agriculture Officers in the state, asking them not to issue any new licences at the district-level as a decision in this regard has been taken by the state government. “If it is absolutely necessary to issue a licence, the permission for it should be taken from the head office of the Agriculture Department,” read the orders issued by the Joint Director of the Agriculture Department.

The ban is on issuing of licences to small retailers, manufacturers and also for those who get licences for sale across the state. Top officials in the department say that the decision has been taken in order to regulate the sale of pesticides and fertilisers. “There are already too many licence-holders and it is difficult for the state to regulate them. As a result, too many spurious pesticides and fertilisers are now finding their way to farmers, posing risk to the farming operations,” said a top officer. It is learnt that there are close to 20,000 retailers of pesticides and fertilisers in the state.

The move has not gone down well with farmers and youth, who feel that the move will kill employment opportunity for many. Gurbakshish Singh, a farmer from Nabha, said many youth had applied for the licence, after having completed a one-year diploma course in agriculture sciences. “They study for the course to become eligible for obtaining these licences. They now feel let down,” he told The Tribune. Being a graduate in agriculture sciences, science or a diploma in agriculture is a must to obtain this licence.

The issue of imposing a ban on issuing of new licences was reportedly also discussed in a meeting of Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal with the fertiliser and pesticide dealers’ association last month, said Gokal Prakash Gupta, a leading fertiliser dealer in the state. Many of the dealers are reportedly against the grant of new licences, and had also said so in the meeting.

Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary, BKU Ekta-Ugrahan, said the need of the hour was to change the model of agriculture — from a chemical-based agriculture to natural farming. “Instead of banning the issuing of new licences, the government should look at minimising the use of the chemicals and fertilisers, and move towards bio chemical usage on crops,” he said.