Spurious DAP fertiliser caught in Moga

CHANDIGARH: Two vehicles allegedly carrying spurious Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertiliser were caught by the agriculture department in Moga and handed over to the police.
Chief agriculture officer Jaswinder Singh Brar said the department acted on a tip off and the police would now investigate how much such fake fertiliser had been supplied to farmers.He also appealed to farmers not to indulge in panic buying and buy fertilisers only from reliable sources with an authentic bill.
To check the ‘illegal’ practice of boosting sales of other products by tagging them with fertilisers, Punjab agriculture department has set up four teams on Thursday. Meanwhile, the issue of shortage of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertiliser and demand for increase in sugarcane prices were also discussed.
Punjab agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian gave the directions after a meeting with a farmers’ group.
Punjab is anticipating sowing wheat over an area of about 35 lakh hectares, necessitating around 5.50 lakh metric tonnes of DAP fertiliser. The Punjab government has approached the Centre to secure sufficient supply of fertilisers for Punjab farmers for the upcoming Rabi season.