By Anant Amit/JP Gupta
New Delhi: The Government of India's plan to raise the annual food grain production from 201 million tonnes to 232.5 million tonnes in the next five years looks set for a nosedive.<!--more-->

And the reason for such a scary scenario arises from the ongoing tussle between the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Chemical and Fertiliser over fixation of category of bentonite sulphur.

Despite government's efforts to improve per hectare yield by allowing liberal subsidies on urea, DPA and other nitrogenous fertilisers, and offering a lot of bonanza to farming sector, the scene is not likely to change much.

Agricultural experts have been insisting use of more sulphur based fertilisers to increase yield on the Indian soil.

Adds agriculture expert Devendra Sharma,"The farm soil in the country now needs to be treated adding sulphur based fertilisers as it had become saturated with urea and other nitrogenous fertilisers. If Sulphur is not added in sufficient quantity with other fertilisers the yield is not going to improve."

But the availability of sulphur based fertilisers was not enough in the country to reciprocate the government's aim.

Sources in the Agriculture Ministry said that bentonite sulphur could be a better substitute to make things green on Indian soil. But its import has become such a ticklish issue, largely due to interference of Ministry of Finance that its imports have suddenly stopped.

The Government of India Gazette notifies this commodity as fertiliser in its issue published in 2006 in accordance with specification of the Agriculture Ministry, which classified it as fertiliser. And as such an import duty of only five per cent should be levied on its import.

On the other hand the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), which falls under Finance Ministry, has put bentonite sulphur fertiliser under the Miscellaneous chemical category in chapter 38 of the Gazette and was charging an import duty of 31.7 per cent. This move of the CBEC has suddenly checked the import of this valuable fertiliser in India.

A member of the Fertiliser Association of India Naresh Prasad said, "This commodity should be charged customs duty in accordance with chapter 31 of the customs tariff and not chapter 38."

Officials in the Agriculture Ministry wonder why the customs authorities were ignoring the Fertiliser Control Order (FCO) which specifies this commodity as fertiliser.

It is interesting to note here that the customs authorities were clearing bentonite sulphur in different chapters of the customs tariff at different ports at their own discretion.

Interestingly, the Rashtriya Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (RCFL), a Nav Ratna Government of India undertaking has been inviting tenders for supply of bentonite sulphur as fertiliser after completing all government formalities.