How the next government will push ‘balanced fertilization’

Subject: Environment

Sec: Agriculture

Context:

The fiscal ended March 2024 saw urea consumption hit a record 35.8 million tonnes (mt), 16.9% higher than the 30.6 mt in 2013-14, the year before the Narendra Modi government came to power.

More on news:

The consumption of urea, containing 46% nitrogen (N), actually fell during 2016-17 and 2017-18, which was attributed to the mandatory coating of all urea with neem oil from May 2015.

What is Balanced Fertilization:

Fertilizers are basically food for crops, containing nutrients necessary for plant growth and grain yields.
Balanced fertilization means supplying these primary (N, phosphorus-P and potassium-K), secondary (sulfur-S, calcium, magnesium) and micro (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, boron, molybdenum) nutrients in the right proportion, based on soil type and the crop’s own requirement at different growth stages.
Balanced fertilization aims at discouraging farmers from applying too much urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) or muriate of potash (MOP), which only have primary nutrients in high concentrations.

About Neem coated urea:

Neem coating was intended to check illegal diversion of the highly-subsidized urea for non-agricultural uses, including by plywood, dye, cattle feed and synthetic milk makers.
Neem oil supposedly also acted as a mild nitrification inhibitor, allowing more gradual release of nitrogen.
Improved nitrogen use efficiency, in turn, brought down the number of urea bags required per acre.

About Nutrient Based Subsidy:

The nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) system, instituted in April 2010 to promote balanced fertilization.
Under it, the government fixed a per-kg subsidy for N, P, K and S.
The subsidy on any fertilizer was linked to its nutrient content.
The underlying idea was to induce product innovation and wean away farmers from urea, DAP (18% N and 46% P content) and MOP (60% K), in favor of complex fertilizers containing N, P, K, S and other nutrients in balanced proportions with lower concentrations.

India and opportunities:

India is heavily import-dependent in fertilizers, be it of finished products or intermediates and raw materials.

About PM PRANAM scheme:

The Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth is known as the PM PRANAM Scheme in short.
The government plans to reduce subsidies for chemical fertilizers and direct 50% of subsidy savings as a grant to states to invest in new fertilizer technology.
The scheme will have no separate budget and will be financed through the savings of existing fertilizer subsidies under schemes run by the Department of Fertilizers.

About Nano Urea:

Nano Urea is a nanotechnology based revolutionary Agri-input which provides nitrogen to plants.
Nano Urea (Liquid) is a source of nitrogen which is a major essential nutrient required for proper growth and development of a plant.
Nano Urea (Liquid) contains nanoscale nitrogen particles which have more surface area (10,000 times over 1 mm Urea prill) and number of particles (55,000 nitrogen particles over 1 mm Urea prill).which makes it more impactful.
In comparison to Urea the uptake efficiency of Nano Urea is more than 80 %.