Organic fertiliser: A must for the next green revolution

Subject :Environment

Context-

India’s growth story on the path of economic reforms has transformed the country into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
The central government has announced schemes worth crores for various sectors. Similar steps need to be undertaken for the organic fertiliser industry, as India has the potential to become the hub of organic fertiliser production in the world.

Organic fertilizer-

Organic fertiliser can be categorised into two segments, according to government rules: Bio-fertiliser and organic manure.
Bio-fertilisers are composed of living microorganisms attached to solid or liquid carriers and are useful for cultivable land, as these microorganisms help in increasing the productivity of soil and/or crops.
Organic manure, on the other hand, refers to partially decomposed organic matter like digestate from a biogas plant, compost and vermicompost, which provides nutrients to the soil/crops and improves yield.

Production-

India produces more than 150,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW), based on estimated MSW generation data from the National Solid Waste Association of India and the Central Pollution Control Board.
Considering collection efficiency of 80 per cent and the organic part of MSW to be 50 per cent, the total organic waste generated per day in India comes to around 65,000 tonnes per day.
Even if half of this is diverted to the biogas industry, the government can leverage this by reducing in import of fossils and fertilisers.

The demand for Organic Fertilisers–

The popularity of organic farming has grown in the domestic market in recent years.
The market size for Indian organic packaged food is expected to grow at a rate of 17 per cent and cross Rs 871 million by 2021.
The significant rise of this sector is linked to growing awareness about the harmful effects of synthetic fertiliser on soil, rising health concerns, expanding urban population base and increased consumer expenditure on food goods.
Because organic manure can be improved with the use of bio fertilisers to meet nutrient requirements, both biofertilizers and organic manure have the potential to eliminate the usage of synthetic fertilisers completely.

The penetration of organic fertilisers is low-

The proportion of organic fertilisers in the overall fertiliser consumption was only 0.29 per centfor 2018-19 and 0.34 per cent for 2019-20.
With the promotion of biogas production, the government can reap the benefits of its bi-product — fertiliser.

Fertiliser from Biogas-

Biogas/gobar gas plants not only produce biogas but also organic fertilisers. There is also great value in the organic fertiliser also known as digestate, which is the biogas plant’s effluent.
Biogas can be utilised for heating, electricity and even vehicular purposes (after upgrading), whereas digestate can help realise the vision to have a second green revolution.
Digestate can provide organic carbon to the continuously depleting soil, apart from its standard nutrition value.
In India at present, bio-fertiliser production is just over 110,000 tonnes( carrier-based 79,000 tonnes and liquid-based 30,000 tonnes) and 34 million tonnes of organic manure, composed of farmyard manure, city compost and vermicompost, among others.
The organic manure (digestate) from a biogas plant can be applied at the rate of around 40 tonnes per hectare of cultivable land.

The step taken by the government-

The Centre has shown the intent of promoting the industry through its SATAT scheme.
It has no doubt allocated 468 crores towards Central Financial Assistance in the earlier budget.
But the industry needs much more support to save the future governments billions of dollars because if all the projects applied under SATAT scheme materialise, it will help the country save $16 billion year-on-year.
Bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) and solid organic manure or digestate can be produced in large quantities under the SATAT programme, under which more than 5,000 projects have been started across the country by the industry.