Farmers irked by flash sales of urea in erstwhile Adilabad

Farmers in the erstwhile Adilabad district have expressed concern over the app-based urea distribution system, alleging flash sales and limited access. Poor digital literacy, dependence on landowners and weak internet connectivity are making fertilizer purchases difficult, they claimed

Adilabad: Farmers are being irked by the alleged flash sales of urea on an Android-based application titled Fertilizer in several parts of the erstwhile Adilabad district.

Growers of paddy, cotton and other crops were forming long queues at authorised outlets to buy urea, Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and other complex fertilizers till 2025. Police used lathi-charge to disperse farmers who were competing with one another to procure urea. The government introduced an innovative system, an Android-based application, to ease the challenges faced by farmers in purchasing fertilizer this year.

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As per the system, aimed at bringing transparency and preventing diversion, farmers are required to upload land title documents on the application, which displays the availability of stocks allotted to a mandal. They should place an order on the application whenever urea is sold by the government in a phased manner meant to avoid shortages.

However, farmers said they were struggling to book slots to buy fertilizer on the application as they were not familiar with mobile phones. They reasoned that the stocks of urea were getting exhausted within a few minutes after the purchasing process commenced on the application. They stated that they were irked by the flash sales.

The hapless farmers are being compelled to rely either on operators of the outlets or on those who are familiar with mobile phones to book slots. Tenant farmers are facing severe inconvenience as they need to depend on landowners for placing orders. They opined that purchasing urea through the application had become a herculean task for them.

The farmers further stated that the government was showing the quantity of urea on the application, but the ground reality was different from what was claimed. They urged officials to allocate sufficient stocks of urea to meet demand for the key input used in growing paddy and cotton.

Meanwhile, farmers from remote and interior villages are bearing the brunt of the system. They said they were experiencing difficulty in purchasing urea due to patchy internet connectivity and poor telecom networks in their villages located in valleys. Farmers from Jilleda and Murliguda villages sought a special quota of fertilizer.