Kerala: Agriculture department cracks down on illegal fertiliser sale
Officials said they were still selling products with the expiry date long over.
Thiruvananthapuram: The agriculture department has brought to book unauthorised pesticides and fertilisers selling agencies. Its regional special squad caught several unauthorised agencies in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts and sealed them on special orders. Agro Plantation Agencies and Kissan Excel Private Limited in Kozhikode and Farmers Agro Service Centre in Vythiri, New Planters in Sulthan Bathery, Madaikkal Traders in Kalpetta, Krishi Mitra Agencies in Ambalavayal and Co-operative Bank in Sulthan Bathery underwent raids.
Officials said they were still selling products with the expiry date long over. “The building numbers shown on the licence had discrepancies. Also, the stock register was not foolproof, and cash bills not saved. As per Insecticide Act 1968 rule 30, not showing the correct price of the fertilisers/insecticides is a grievous lapse,” said an agriculture official. The majority of the agencies have been selling bone meal which is against the fertiliser control order (1985). There has been a widespread complaint that the products were being sold off without the prescription of the Wayanad agricultural officer and being the border district of the State, it has been reaching Karnataka.
Another grievous allegation is that instead of retail businesses, a majority of them were doing wholesale. Under these circumstances sale of the products have been banned by the regional squad for 30 days. After this, the agriculture department officials will inspect the agencies again and see whether they have stuck to the requisite law. The inspection was done by Palakkad agriculture deputy director (E&T) Liza Mathew, Thrissur agriculture deputy director (E&T) N. Jayashree, Thrissur agriculture assistant director Shajan Mathew and Kozhikode agriculture assistant director T. R. Shaji.
