Government to check unbalanced use of fertilisers

NEW DELHI: Government is looking to check the unbalanced use of fertilisers as it is deteriorating soil health and at the same time impacting agricultural output and farmers' income.

The soil health has been continuously deteriorating due to excessive use of urea in place of other essential NPK (nitrogenous, phosphoric and potassic) fertilisers. And this has a negative impact on agricultural output and farmers' income, a source said.

"Farmers use urea, a rich source of nitrogen, as its price is highly subsidised and lower compared to the decontrolled NPK fertilisers like DAP and MOP. The government is looking at this matter," the source added.

"For improving soil health, there is need to incentivise NPK production in the country, but at the same time urea prices should also be raised as they have not been increased for almost last one decade," another source said.

Meanwhile Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices ( CACP) has also pointed in its report that urea price is low in comparison to prices of DAP and MoP, and therefore, the consumption of fertilisers is "highly skewed".

According to industry sources, attention should be given to allocation of domestic gas for NPK players to make these soil nutrients more affordable.

Urea is the most commonly used soil nutrient and its retail price is fixed at Rs 5,360 per tonne. The balance between cost of production (retention price) and selling price is paid as subsidy to manufacturers.

Whereas NPK fertiliser prices are decontrolled, government only provides fixed subsidy to these players depending upon the content of various nutrients in them.