New Delhi, Feb. 26 -- Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday strongly pitched for transferring the country's Rs.1.71 lakh-core fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers' bank accounts, instead of routing it through crop-nutrient manufacturers, hinting that discussions were on to arrive at a consensus on how to initiate the reform. The government has linked nearly 80.5 million farmers with the biometric Aadhaar-based digital IDs as part of the ministry's Agristack platform, which would help facilitate targeted delivery of all kinds of direct benefit transfers, the minister said, addressing farmers at Krishi Vigyan Mela, the government's annual farm science fair, in the national capital. "We have to take many decisions through consensus. One such issue is fertiliser subsidy. It's a huge subsidy. Now we have to review this.because we often get complaints. Farmers don't receive full benefits and there is diversion (of fertilisers)," Chouhan said. Food security in the world's most populous nation is closely linked to timely availability of fertilisers, bulk of which India imports to meet domestic requirements. The government subsidises a range of crop nutrients to farmers through manufacturers and importers, who sell them at a discount to cultivators through point-of-sale devices. These companies are then reimbursed by the government through the fertiliser subsidy bill. "Subsidised fertilisers are meant for farmers but they get diverted to other users.to factories and elsewhere. The nation should now think whether fertiliser subsidy should be directly transferred to bank accounts of farmers," the minister said. htc...