Home About Us
About Jigyasa IAS Mission & Vision Director’s Message
UPSC CSE
About Civil Services Examination Eligibility Criteria for CSE CSE Exam Pattern How to prepare for CSE How to choose optional subject
Courses
GS Foundation Course Sociology Optional Courses Guided Preparation Module Daily Rigorous Answer Writing
Daily Feeds
Daily Current Affairs Editorials Daily Quiz Free Answer Writing
Useful Links
About Prelims About Mains About Interview Daily Study Guideline Essential Book List
Downloads
NCERT Book List Govt. Welfare Schemes Daily Downloads
Contact Us
Blog Login

Rise in the Consumption of the Nitrogenous Fertilizers

AGRICULTURE
13 Dec, 2022

Theme : Agriculture and related issues

Paper:GS - 3

 

TABLE OF CONTENT

  1. Context
  2. Spike in the Sale of Nitrogenous Fertilizers
  3. Reasons for Increasing Use of the Urea and DAP Fertilizers
  4. Ideal Ratio for NPK
  5. PM PRANAM Yojana
  6. Steps to be taken

Context :  Annual consumption of the nitrogenous fertilizer has  risen from 30 to 35 million tonnes (mt) in the last five years.

Spike in the Sale of Nitrogenous Fertilizers : 

  • Rise in sales of not only urea but also DAP: This year, not only have urea sales gone up by 3.7 per cent during April-October over the same period of 2021, it has grown even more, at 16.9 per cent, for di-ammonium phosphate (DAP).
  • Sales are not in correct proportion: It has come even as sales of all other fertilizers including complexes containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), K (potash) and sulphur (S) in different proportions have fallen.
  • Urea and DAP are the dominant choice of Indian farmers: In other words, instead of balanced use of plant nutrients based on soil testing and specific crop requirement, Indian farmers are effectively applying just urea and DAP both high-analysis fertilizers containing 46 per cent N and P respectively

Reasons for Increasing Use of the Urea and DAP Fertilizers : 

  • The non-urea fertilizer is decontrolled or fixed by the companies: The government has fixed the maximum retail price (MRP) of urea at Rs 5,628 per tonne. The MRPs of other fertilizers are technically decontrolled, but companies have been “told” not to charge more than Rs 27,000/tonne for DAP.
  • Informally fixed prices are higher: The informally-fixed MRPs are higher at Rs 29,000-31,000 and Rs 34,000 per tonne for NPKS complexes and muriate of potash (MOP) respectively, but farmers have little incentive to buy at these prices.
  • DAP is cheaper to apply: Farmers are reluctant to apply complexes such as 10:26:26:0, 12:32:16:0 and 20:20:0:13 when DAP is cheaper and has 46 per cent P as well as 18 per cent N.
  • Price is the primary concern for over micronutrients: The fact that DAP does not contain K, S or other macro and micro nutrients wouldn’t matter to a majority of farmers. For them, choice of fertilizers is primarily a function of prices.
  • Subsidies on individual fertilizers are to be blamed: Underpricing of urea (a historical phenomenon) and DAP (recent) is a product of subsidy-induced market distortions, for which the blame lies squarely with the Government.

Ideal Ratio for NPK : 

  • Ideal ratio v/s current NPK ratio: The effects of these the current NPK ratio is about 13:5:1, as against the ideal 4:2:1 would ultimately show up in crop yields.
  • Plants will respond poorly: Plants, like humans, will respond poorly to fertilizers if only one or two nutrients are given in excess.
  • Disturbs soil health: Excessive use of chemical fertilizers kills all the microorganisms available in the soil, which are so essential for maintaining soil health.

PM PRANAM Yojana : 

  • PM PRANAM stands for PM Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management Yojana.
  • The proposed scheme intends to reduce the subsidy burden on chemical fertilizers.
  • This burden, if uneased, is expected to increase to Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-2023, which is 39% higher than the previous year’s figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore.
  • The scheme will not have a separate budget and will be financed by the “savings of existing fertilizer subsidy” under schemes run by the Department of fertilizers.

Steps to be taken : 

  • Changing the subsidy policies: The Government should replace subsidies on individual fertilizer products with a flat per-hectare cash transfer, maybe twice a year.
  • E- wallet account for money transfer only to purchase fertilizers: Every farmer can have an e-wallet account into which this money can be credited before the kharif and rabi planting seasons. The e-wallet may be used only for the purchase of fertilizers.
  • Maintaining stock of basic fertilizers: The government can maintain a stock of basic fertilizers, including urea and DAP, to ensure no untoward price rise even in a decontrol scenario.

FAQs : 

  1. What is PM PRANAM Yojana ?

ANS. PM PRANAM stands for PM Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management Yojana.The proposed scheme intends to reduce the subsidy burden on chemical fertilizers.

  1. What is the Ideal Ratio for NPK ?

ANS. 4:2:1