How can Indian farmers be weaned away from urea, DAP and potash?

Sub : Geo

Sec: Agri

Context:

India’s fertilizer consumption has become a critical area of concern, primarily due to its heavy reliance on imports for key fertilizers like urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), and muriate of potash (MOP).
This dependency not only strains the country’s foreign exchange reserves but also makes the agricultural sector vulnerable to global price fluctuations and geopolitical instability.

Import Dependence:

MOP is entirely imported as India has no potash reserves. Major suppliers include Canada, Russia, Jordan, Israel, Turkmenistan, and Belarus.
For urea, India produces over 85% of its requirement domestically; however, it relies on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from countries like Qatar, US, UAE, and Angola to run its urea plants.
DAP is imported as both finished fertilizer and raw materials. The primary sources for finished DAP are Saudi Arabia, China, Morocco, Russia, and Jordan. Raw materials such as phosphoric acid come from Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia and ammonia from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Indonesia.

High-Analysis Fertilizers:

Fertilizers like urea, DAP, and MOP are considered high-analysis fertilizers due to their high nutrient content:
- Urea contains 46% nitrogen (N).
- MOP contains 60% potash (K).
- DAP contains 46% phosphorus (P) and 18% nitrogen (N).
While these fertilizers are highly concentrated, they do not align with the specific nutrient needs of most crops. Most crops don’t require fertilises with such high percentage of individual nutrients.
Crops require balanced fertilization, which includes not just macronutrients like N, P, and K, but also secondary nutrients (e.g., sulphur, calcium, magnesium) and micronutrients (e.g., zinc, iron, copper, manganese).

Challenges of High-Analysis Fertilizers:

Excessive use of high-analysis fertilizers like urea, DAP, and MOP can lead to inefficient nutrient absorption by plants.
Overuse leads to wastage of expensive imported materials and places pressure on India’s foreign exchange reserves.

Ammonium Phosphate Sulphate (APS) as an alternative:

An important substitute for DAP is Ammonium Phosphate Sulphate (APS), commonly known as 20:20:0:13. APS contains 20% nitrogen (N), 20% phosphorus (P), 0% Potash (K) and 13% sulphur (S). Despite having less phosphorus than DAP, APS has proven to be an effective fertilizer for a wide range of crops, especially those requiring sulphur.
APS consumption has surged, with sales rising from 9 million tonnes (mt) in 2023, positioning it as the third-largest fertilizer consumed in India after urea and DAP.

Benefits of APS:

Cost-Effective: APS uses less phosphoric acid and more sulfuric acid than DAP, making its production more economical. While DAP production requires about 460 kg of phosphoric acid for each tonne, APS requires only 220-230 kg of phosphoric acid.
Suitability for various crops: APS is particularly effective for crops like oilseeds, pulses, maize, cotton, onion, and chilly, which are sulphur-hungry.
Reduced dependency on imported materials: By using rock phosphate, which is more readily available and cheaper than merchant-grade phosphoric acid, the production of APS reduces India’s dependency on phosphoric acid imports.