Govt plans pilots on new direct benefit transfer model for fertilisers

In a significant step, the Centre is planning to conduct pilots in a few districts of the country on a modified version of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) in fertilisers that would establish some connect between land holding and the nutrient’s consumption.

To conduct the pilots, a few rounds of discussions have been held with a few southern states and a response is awaited, a senior government official said. This version could help in monitoring consumption.

Currently, the version of DBT in fertilisers involves farmers purchasing their fertilisers through point of sale (PoS) devices after undergoing Aadhaar authentication. This ensures