After years of indiscriminate use, synthetic fertilisers are currently hampering the increase of food production in the country.
Intensive agriculture, with high use of synthetic fertilisers and chemical pesticides, was introduced in India in the 1960s as
After years of indiscriminate use, synthetic fertilisers are currently hampering the increase of food production in the country.
Intensive agriculture, with high use of synthetic fertilisers and chemical pesticides, was introduced in India in the 1960s as part of the Green Revolution. As a result, synthetic fertilisers’ consumption increased from a mere 0.07 million tonnes (Mt) in 1950-51 to a staggering 22 Mt in the year 2006-07. This contributed to the growth of food production in the country, but nearly five decades down the line, indiscriminate use of these synthetics has degraded the natural resource base, especially the soil. As a consequence, food production is no longer increasing and is now affected by diminishing returns and falling dividends in agriculture intensive areas.
Synthetic fertiliser consumption in India is highly variable among regions, but in 78 districts fertiliser consumption is twice the national average.
The synthetic fertiliser usage in the country shows significant variation from region to region. However, in the most agriculture intensive districts (78 districts out of 528 major districts in India), synthetic N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) fertiliser consumption is more than 200 kg/ha, a rate that is twice the country average. Six crops (rice, wheat, cotton, sugar cane, rapeseed and mustard) consume about two-thirds of the synthetic fertiliser applied. The irrigated area, accounting for 40 per cent of the total agricultural area, receives 60 per cent of the total fertiliser applied.
The huge Central Government fertiliser subsidy is one of the main reasons behind imbalance and overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers in India.
Synthetic fertilisers are released into the agrarian system at highly subsidised rates. The amount of subsidy outgo on synthetic N-P-K fertilisers (domestic and imported) in India during the last three decades has grown exponentially from a mere Rs. 60 crore during 1976-77 to an astronomical Rs. 40,338 crore during 2007-08. According to government sources (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertiliser, 2008) the subsidy estimate for 2008-09 was Rs.1,19,772 crores.
At present, the subsidy structure is skewed towards synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and this has been phenomenal in promoting its overuse. Urea accounts for 82 per cent of the total consumption of nitrogen fertilisers in the country. Several field surveys conducted by the Principal Investigators in different parts of the country point to the fact that the huge fertiliser subsidy is one of the main reasons behind imbalance and overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers in India. A majority of the surveyed farmers reported that they used higher doses of nitrogen to replace other nutrients, since as a result of government subsidies, synthetic nitrogen is relatively cheaper to procure. Farmers also expressed their willingness to use more ecological fertilisers if they were easily available and subsidised.
Overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, catalysed by skewed subsidy policies, is causing long-term damage to soil health locally and to the environment at a larger scale (e.g. climate gases and dead zones in the oceans). Soil degradation problems such as soil acidification and alkalisation, as well as deterioration of the soil’s physical properties, such as infiltration, soil aeration, soil structure and bulk density, have all been linked to over emphasis on synthetic fertilizers and neglect of organic fertilization. Several long-term fertiliser trial experiments by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) indicate that the continuous use of syn