Fertilizer booking app fails to end farmers’ urea troubles in Karimnagar

Despite the launch of a fertiliser booking app to ease urea distribution, farmers continue to face hardships due to smartphone dependence, OTP delays and limited stocks, with tenant farmers struggling the most due to absentee landowners.

Karimnagar: Urea-related troubles of farmers have not ended even after the launch of a dedicated mobile application, with tenant farmers facing more severe hardships.

Claiming to end the urea shortage and serpentine queues formed by farmers outside fertiliser shops, the State government introduced a mobile application named ‘Fertilizer Booking App’. Farmers are required to download the mobile application from the Play Store and complete registration by entering their Aadhaar number, mobile number and pattadar passbook details. The stock position of the day appears on the screen when the application is opened. If stock is available with the fertiliser dealer in their mandal, farmers can book urea by entering their passbook number. Once farmers book urea through the application, they receive a One Time Password (OTP), which must be submitted at the fertiliser shop.

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Thereafter, shop operators allocate urea by entering the Aadhaar number of the farmer in the application. Farmers then receive another OTP on the mobile number linked to Aadhaar and can collect urea bags by submitting the second OTP at the shop. As a result, smartphones are essential to download the application and book fertiliser.

However, a majority of farmers neither possess smartphones nor have the technical knowledge to operate them, forcing them to depend on their children or others. If their children are not available locally, it becomes more difficult to obtain the OTPs and submit them at the shop, as delays result in expiry and failure of the booking process. The situation of tenant farmers is even more difficult. Tenant farmers whose landowners are residing in other areas or foreign countries are facing severe hardships.

Obtaining OTPs by contacting landowners over phone and submitting them at fertiliser shops has become increasingly difficult, with several instances of OTPs expiring before completion of the process.
Once the allocation process is completed, farmers can collect urea at any time within 48 hours, failing which the allocation is cancelled.

Speaking to Telangana Today, farmer Manda Rajamallaiah said that though the application was introduced with good intentions, farmers without knowledge of smartphones were facing difficulties and were forced to depend on others. Tenant farmers are facing severe problems as most landowners are staying either in other areas or foreign countries. The government should make alternative arrangements for them, he opined.

He further said that fertiliser stocks were exhausted within 15 minutes of uploading daily stock details in the application and urged the government to ensure adequate availability of fertilisers.