{"id":192284,"date":"2022-06-24T20:47:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T15:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=192284"},"modified":"2022-06-24T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T15:18:11","slug":"what-india-needs-to-do-to-reduce-its-fertiliser-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/what-india-needs-to-do-to-reduce-its-fertiliser-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"What India needs to do to reduce its fertiliser bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News: <\/strong>In 2021- 22, India\u2019s import of fertilisers touched an all-time high of $12.77 billion in fiscal terms.<\/p>\n

What are the factors that make India fit for agricultural activities?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

India has no dearth of land, water<\/strong> and sunshine<\/strong> to sustain vibrant agriculture. India is abundant in all these resources. For example:<\/p>\n

(1) India\u2019s land under crop cultivation<\/strong> (at 169.3 million hectares) is far higher than any other country. For example, US (160.4mh), China (135.7mh), Russia (123.4mh) or Brazil (63.5mh).<\/p>\n

(2) India is endowed with the perennial Himalayan rivers<\/strong>. It has average annual rainfall<\/strong> of nearly 1,200 mm, in contrast to other countries like Russia\u2019s 475mm, China\u2019s 650 mm and the US\u2019s 750 mm<\/p>\n

What are the challenges in the agricultural sector in India? <\/strong><\/h5>\n

Fundamental Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

(A) India is short and heavily dependent<\/strong> on imports in the fertilizer sector. It can be illustrated by below mentioned fact:<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> India heavily imports mineral fertilisers<\/strong> like urea, DAP, complex fertilisers (containing nitrogen-N, phosphorus-P, potassium-K and sulphur-S in different ratios) and single super phosphate (SSP).<\/p>\n

–<\/strong> India also substantially imports the intermediates or raw materials<\/strong> required for the manufacture of these fertilisers. For example, for urea, the primary feedstock is imported natural gas. For DAP, domestic manufacturers import intermediate chemicals, namely phosphoric acid and ammonia. Some even produce phosphoric acid by importing rock phosphate and sulphuric acid.<\/p>\n

(B) The foreign exchange outgo<\/strong> and the fiscal cost<\/strong> (subsidy part) are the two associated cost with the import of above said items.<\/p>\n

(C) In addition to the above problems, the Indian farmers are well known to do over-application<\/strong> of the fertilizers.<\/p>\n

Ongoing challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

At present, the global prices of urea, DAP, MOP, phosphoric acid, ammonia and LNG have increased at lot<\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n

First of all, there is a need to cap or even reduce consumption<\/strong> of high-analysis fertilisers<\/strong> \u2013 particularly urea<\/strong> (46 per cent N content), DAP<\/strong> (18 per cent N and 46 per cent P) and MOP<\/strong> (60 per cent).<\/p>\n