Centre ties up with India Post to fast-track testing of pesticide, seed, fertiliser samples

New Delhi, Jan 7 (LatestNewsX) The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and the Department of Posts on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a nationwide system for transporting pesticide, seed and fertiliser samples to testing laboratories across India.

The agreement aims to ensure faster, safer and more reliable testing of agricultural inputs, helping protect farmers from fake and substandard products.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Region Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Speaking at the event, the Communications Minister said the Department of Posts has grown into one of the world’s largest and most reliable logistics networks under the Prime Minister’s vision of “Viksit Bharat”.

He highlighted that India Post has more than 1.60 lakh post offices, with around 1.40 lakh located in rural areas, allowing it to reach even the most remote parts of the country.

He added that India Post handles lakhs of deliveries every day and nearly six lakh parcels during peak festive seasons, showing its strong operational capacity.

The partnership is part of the PAN-India Online Pesticide, Seed and Fertiliser Quality Management System, which is being developed by the Centre for Research and Industrial Staff Performance (CRISP).

This digital system is designed to improve transparency, strengthen quality checks and ensure timely testing of agricultural inputs through a technology-driven process.

Addressing the gathering, the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister said fake and poor-quality pesticides, seeds and fertilisers cause heavy financial losses and serious distress to farmers.

He said the new system would help protect farmers by ensuring quicker and more dependable testing of agricultural inputs.

“Faster movement of samples to laboratories would also strengthen enforcement and help stop the sale of spurious products,” Chouhan stated.

He added that earlier, samples often took 10 to 15 days to reach laboratories, but with this new logistics mechanism, delivery time would be reduced to 48 to 72 hours.

“This would allow quicker testing, faster action against offenders and greater confidence among farmers about the quality of inputs they use,” he stated.

The government said the partnership reflects its focus on better coordination between departments and effective use of India Post’s logistics strength.

pk