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.

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.

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.