Fertiliser scenario in India: Increased unbalanced use and subsidy

Introduction of high yielding, semi dwarf and fertilizer responsive varieties of wheat during 1960's were an red letter blessings for India which made it possible to survive the largest population and oldest civilization to live a life with full stomach.
The adaptation of fertilizer responsive varieties and development of similar vigorous planting material has increased the nutrient requirement and thus, increased fertilizer demand.

   

Total nutrient consumption (N+P+K) has increased from 0.27 MT in 1965-66 to 26.59 MT in 2017-18 while food grain production increased from 72.35 MT to 284.83 MT. India is the second largest consumer in terms of fertilizer nutrient consumption (first- China) with 128.02 Kg per ha per year consumption during 2017-18. But the per ha consumption of nutrients  in India is far less than other countries including China(503.1 Kg/ha), Bangladesh(178.3 Kg/ha).

Fertilizers play a very important role in supplying micro and macro nutrients to the crop according to the crop requirements. India being a tropical country, the organic carbon (C) content of the Indian soils is very low. The deficiency of N is universal in India. Most of the Indian soils are low to medium in P. Over time, K deficiency has also become widespread. The deficiency of S is increasing. Besides primary and secondary nutrients, the increasing deficiency of micro nutrients is becoming a cause of concern. Among the micro nutrients, the deficiency of Zn is the most acute, followed by B.

(Source: https://www.fao.org/) 

Application of balanced fertilization is the key to enhance NUE (nutrient use efficiency) of the plant nutrients while maintaining soil productivity. It aims at application of fertilizers in optimum quantities and in right proportion through appropriate methods, which results in sustenance of soil fertility and crop productivity.

There are 17 essential plant nutrients with nine macro nutrients: N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, C, H, O and eight micro nutrients or trace mineral : Fe, B, Cl, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, Ni. A balanced use of all nutrients is required. But in India imbalance use of fertilizer is a common practice due to lack of knowledge and policy constraints which relies more on urea subsidy(a single nutrient fertilizer with 46%N) sharing more than 50% of budgetary allocation out of total subsidy given.

State-wise use of fertilizer:

The ideal and balanced fertilization is application of NPK in the ratio of 4:2:1 but all India average NPK ratio is 6.1:2.81:1.

But the whole story is different than what it seems in the ratio.

India is divided into five zones 

1). East zone- Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh

2). West zone- Gujarat, MP, Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Goa, D&D, D&N

3). North zone - Haryana, Punjab, UP, HP, J&K, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chandigarh

4). South zone - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, TN, A&N island, Lakshdweep

5). North East zone - Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunanchal Pradesh

Out of five zones, the use of NPK in three zone is near to balanced or ideal NPK ratio which includes South zone (3.9:1.7:1), NE zone (3.42:1.1:1), East zone (3.8:1.7:1) but the remaining two zones are most deviating and showing highly unbalanced use of NPK fertilizers.

North zone - 15.51 : 4.85 : 1

West Zone - 6.07 :2.81 : 1

In North zone, worst performing states are 

Haryana - 22.7 : 6.1 : 1

Punjab - 25.8 : 5.9 : 1

Uttarakhand - 18.9 : 3.1 : 1

Delhi - 36.7 : 9.7 : 1

Uttar Pradesh - 13.5 : 4.98 : 1

In West zone, worst state are 

Rajasthan - 34.5 : 12.7 : 1

Madhya Pradesh - 12.8 : 6.7 : 1

Chhatisgarh - 6.42 : 3.9 : 1

Gujarat - 9.5 : 3.1 : 1

Role of subsidy in unbalanced fertilization:

The fertilizer subsidy for t he year increased by 14.14 per cent to Rs 79,996 crore in 2019-20 from the revised estimate of Rs 70,085.70 crore in the last fiscal. Out of this allocation, urea subsidy comprises of Rs 53,629 crores (67%) and nutrient-based subsidies of Rs 26,367 crores, as per the Budget document.

More the share of urea as subsidy will lead to more the inclination of farmer to buy urea because other nutrient fertilizer are very costly. This is showing a proper imbalance in policy making and budgetary allocation which if corrected or more emphasis is laid on other nutrients the problem can be sorted.

References :

Agricultural Statistics at a glance 2018

Annual report 2017-18, Government of India Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Department of Fertilizers

Indian fertilizer scenario 2018, Government of India Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Department of Fertilizers

https://www.fao.org/

https://www.pib.gov.in/

https://www.springer.com/

*Note : NPK ratio are calculated by self using calculator.