Fertilizer Sales Market Urgently Needs Strict Supervision

In current agricultural production in China, the aging of the labor force has led to less livestock and poultry raising and fewer organic fertilizer sources, so farming relies almost entirely on chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers are low in cost and quick in effect, and have played a fairly good role in increasing yields in agricultural production. This has caused the current fertilization structure in agriculture to see a year-by-year increase in the amount of chemical fertilizer used, continuously rising fertilizer costs, and a gradual weakening of the soil's ability to supply nutrients. In the operation and application of chemical fertilizers, there are also some problems that cannot be ignored.

For agricultural input distributors, first, the threshold for agricultural input business is too low; grocery stores in villages without an agricultural input business license can freely buy and sell fertilizers, and some individuals even drive donkey carts to villages to sell chemical fertilizers directly, both diverting goods across regions and slashing prices, making the market extremely chaotic. Second, fertilizer varieties are chaotic and homogenization is severe; for example, compound fertilizers with the same nutrient ratio can sell for different prices simply by changing the packaging. Third, a few enterprises deceive farmers with the vague concept of total nutrient content, especially in bio-organic compound fertilizers by adding organic matter, trace elements, and major elements together, when in fact the content of major elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is very low. Fourth, financial pressure is heavy; farmers often buy fertilizers on credit, and an ordinary township agricultural input distributor selling 2000 tons of chemical fertilizer may have more than 2 million yuan in outstanding credit.

For farmers, first, they worry about buying inferior fertilizers, such as unscrupulous vendors mixing red brick powder into red potassium fertilizer. Second, rural areas have more elderly and women laborers, who demand fertilizers with quick effects and prefer application methods that are as simple as possible. Third, regarding the serious decline in soil fertility, very few people consider improvement.

⟦NL> In order to improve the fertilizer business environment and promote the improvement of soil structure, the industry and commerce and agriculture competent departments should rectify the fertilizer sales market as soon as possible, standardize business order, and resolutely crack down on illegal business practices; strictly monitor the quality of fertilizer products, and strictly investigate and punish counterfeit and inferior fertilizers; the agriculture competent department should formulate reasonable formula fertilization plans, advocate accumulating and making more organic fertilizer, promote bio-organic compound fertilizers, build up soil fertility, and enhance the staying power of agricultural production.