Urea is highly subsidised for agricultural use and is currently cheaper than rock salt. Cheap availability could have possibly led to black marketing, hoarding and smuggling of urea, which also has various industrial and commercial applications such as producing some types of plastics, glues, animal feed and pesticides. There are reports of it being used to produce milk, too.

The teams, consisting of senior officials from the Fertiliser Ministry, should review the situation on availability of fertilisers and their use with the State governments periodically. The teams should also look into black marketing, hoarding and smuggling of fertilisers, besides diversion of urea for non-agricultural applications.

It is reported in Malayala Manorama daily dated 26th September 2014 that  urea at subsidized rates does not reach the farmers. It goes to industries. The state government is sitting idle over this issue for more than four years now.

It is also reported that urea is smuggled from States such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Nepal and Bangladesh. Unlike in India, urea is not subsidised in these countries, thereby creating vast arbitrage opportunities. There are no official estimates on the quantity smuggled or diverted for industrial applications.

The Fertiliser Ministry teams should also look into the issues relating to quality, the sale of non-standard fertilisers, verify quantity at godowns of dealers and companies and leakages in quantity due to handling.