Balanced Fertilisation

• Context (IE): Balanced fertilisation is likely to be a key policy goal for the government.
• Balanced fertilisation means supplying nutrients in the right proportion, based on soil type and the crop’s own requirement at different growth stages.
• Balanced fertilisation is “discouraging farmers from applying excess urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) or muriate of potash (MOP), which only have primary nutrients in high concentrations”.
• These nutrients include primary (N, phosphorus-P and potassium-K), secondary (sulphur-S, calcium, magnesium) and micro (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, boron, molybdenum).

Increase in Urea consumption

• Urea consumption hit a record 35.8 million tonnes (mt) in the fiscal year ending March 2024, 16.9% higher than the 30.6 mt in 2013-14.
• Urea (contains 46% nitrogen) consumption actually fell during 2016-17 and 2017-18, which was attributed to the mandatory coating of all urea with neem oil from May 2015.
• Despite compulsory neem coating and the government reducing the bag size from 50 kg to 45 kg in March 2018, urea consumption has only increased during the last six years.
• Notably, The nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) system, instituted in 2010, excluded Urea from it.

Neem Coated Urea Neem coating was intended to check the illegal diversion of the highly subsidised urea for non-agricultural uses, including plywood, dye, cattle feed, and synthetic milk makers. Neem oil supposedly also acted as a mild nitrification inhibitor, allowing a more gradual release of nitrogen. Improved nitrogen use efficiency also reduced the amount required per acre.

Pricing challenges

• Lower prices of DAP have led to its over-application replacing Urea.
• Higher prices of Muriate of Potassium (MOP) incentivise neither farmers to apply directly nor companies to incorporate it into complexes, leaving plants Potassium starved.

Potassium boosts the immunity of crops against pests and diseases, as well as the uptake of nitrogen.

Way forward

• Price hierarchy: Pricing non-urea fertilisers in the proper hierarchy, i.e., DAP the highest, MOP the lowest and complexes in between, can ensure their balanced use.
• Crop-specific application: DAP use should be restricted mainly to rice and wheat. Other crops can meet their P requirement through complexes.
• Urea under NBS: Lower international prices of fertilisers have opened the scope for including Urea in the NBS.