Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao ruled out scrapping the app-based system for fertiliser distribution, saying it was introduced to ensure that urea and other subsidised fertilisers reached genuine farmers transparently and in required quantities.
Responding to questions from members in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Mr. Tummala said technical issues encountered in implementing the system were being addressed and steps were being taken to make it simpler and more efficient for farmers.
The members raised issues relating to urea supply, booking through the app, difficulties faced by tenant farmers, transportation charges for cooperative societies and technical glitches.
Mr. Tummala said fertiliser distribution had earlier been carried out through Aadhaar authentication. The app-based system was introduced primarily to prevent diversion, hoarding and black-marketing of fertilisers and to ensure that farmers received supplies according to their requirements.
The State government had introduced the Urea Booking App during Rabi 2025-26. The system had yielded positive results in Telangana, following which the Union government introduced the Framework for Fertiliser Sale (FFS) app for digital regulation of the sale of all subsidised fertilisers across the country, he said.
The FFS app, introduced by the Union government on June 4, 2026, had been implemented across Telangana from September 2, replacing the State’s earlier app for the sale of subsidised fertilisers.
District officials had been instructed to inspect fertiliser stocks and regularly reconcile digital records with physical stocks. They had also been directed to take stringent action against those found deliberately indulging in irregularities.
The FFS technical team was conducting regular load testing and the system was being designed to automatically increase server capacity during periods of peak demand, he said.
More than 50 lakh farmers had already purchased fertilisers through the app, Mr. Tummala said, adding that the government’s priority was to address technical problems rather than discontinue the system.
Mr. Tummala said there was currently no shortage of urea in Telangana. Disruptions to imports owing to conflicts and instability, particularly in West Asia, had caused delays in supplies to the country during the previous and current years.
He claimed that fertiliser stocks in the State had increased from about 16-17 lakh metric tonnes earlier to 22-23 lakh metric tonnes after the present government assumed office.
There were about 12,000 fertiliser retail outlets in Telangana, including around 900 operated by cooperative societies, Mr. Tummala said.
He also assured the Council that steps would be taken to ensure that tenant farmers did not face difficulties in booking fertilisers.