64% farmers don't prefer cash transfer for fertilisers, says survey

Most farmers prefer the current form of DBT being used just to identify beneficiaries.

The government is pushing for direct cash transfer (DBT) as fertiliser subsidy, but a study commissioned by NITI Aayog shows that almost 64 per cent of farmers don’t prefer that because of financial burden.

Almost 93.5 per cent of farmers purchase fertilisers in cash. The survey showed that they would incur an upfront expenditure of more than Rs 900 for a 45-kilogram bag of urea, up from Rs 245 a bag, if prices are decontrolled and the subsidy incurred is directly transferred into their banks accounts instead of being routed through companies.

The survey showed that almost 76 per cent