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Economy
Mahesh

02/05/24 06:12 AM IST

Balanced fertilisation

In News
  • Capping consumption of urea and DAP to correct worsening plant nutrient imbalance is likely to be on the priority list of the government post the Lok Sabha polls.
Nutrient-based subsidy
  • Fertilisers are basically food for crops, containing nutrients necessary for plant growth and grain yields.
  • Balanced fertilisation means supplying these primary (N, phosphorus-P and potassium-K), secondary (sulphur-S, calcium, magnesium) and micro (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, boron, molybdenum) nutrients in the right proportion, based on soil type and the crop’s own requirement at different growth stages.
  • The nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) system, instituted in April 2010 by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, was expected to promote balanced fertilisation.
  • Under it, the government fixed a per-kg subsidy for N, P, K and S.
  • The subsidy on any fertiliser was, thereby, linked to its nutrient content.
  • The underlying idea was to induce product innovation and wean away farmers from urea, DAP (18% N and 46% P content) and MOP (60% K), in favour of complex fertilisers containing N, P, K, S and other nutrients in balanced proportions with lower concentrations.
  • NBS achieved its objective initially.
  • Between 2009-10 and 2011-12, DAP and MOP consumption declined, while that of NPKS complexes and single super phosphate (SSP: 16% P and 11% S) rose.
  • But NBS failed simply because it excluded urea. With its maximum retail price (MRP) being controlled, and cumulatively raised by just 16.5 per cent – from Rs 4,830 to Rs 5,628 per tonne – post the introduction of NBS, consumption of urea increased both through the UPA’s 10 years and the 10 years (so far) of the NDA government.
Challenges
  • The last couple of years have seen even non-urea fertilisers being brought under price control, first informally and formally since January 2024.
  • The MRPs of these fertilisers were earlier set by the companies selling them, with the government merely paying a fixed per-tonne subsidy linked to their nutrient content.
  • The restoration of controls, industry sources say, has worsened the nutrient imbalances.
  • The current MRP of DAP, at Rs 1,350 per 50-kg bag, is below the Rs 1,470 for the 10:26:26:0 and 12:32:16:0 NPKS complex fertilisers, notwithstanding their containing less N and P.
  • Even 20:20:0:13, which accounted for nearly 5.4 mt out of the total 11.1 mt of NPKS complexes consumed in 2023-24, is retailing at Rs 1,200-1,225 per bag, only marginally lower than DAP. DAP has, thus, become the “new urea”, with farmers inclined to over-apply both.
  • DAP use should be restricted mainly to rice and wheat.
  • Other crops can meet their P requirement through complexes and SSP.
  • The latter’s relatively low acceptability — in spite of an MRP of Rs 550-600 per bag — can be addressed by marketing it in granular, not powdered, form. Granules are less prone to adulteration with gypsum or clay, while also enabling slower release of P without drift during application.
Source- Indian Express

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