NEW DELHI: The union government has been advocating efficient usage of fertilizer to minimize environmental impact amid demand from the fertilizers' industry body to fix the price of fertilizers based on its nutritional values.
The Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ms. Anupriya Patel reaffirmed the government’s commitment to sustainability in agriculture. She also emphasised that use of technological innovation is essential for long-term productivity.
“The government has been working to make agriculture sustainable by promoting efficient fertilizer usage and advanced technologies for improving agricultural productivity while minimizing environmental impact,” said Patel.
The Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers, J P Nadda also emphasised the long-term sustainability of agriculture and international collaboration with global suppliers.
Blaming farmers for using indiscriminate fertilizers in the field without considering the nature of the soil, the industry body Fertilizers Association of India (FAI) chairman N. Suresh Krishnan demanded fixing the prices of non-urea fertilizers based on their nutritional value.
To promote the balanced use of fertilizers, the fertilizer industry has demanded that the prices of fertilizers should be fixed based on nutritional value.
“Among non-urea fertilizers, the price of diammonium phosphate (DAP) should be the highest because it has the highest nutritional value,” said Krishnan.
He further said after DAP, the prices of Muriate of Potash (MOP) and other Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium (NPK) and Single superphosphate (SSP) fertilizers should be fixed according to the nutritional value.
“This will promote the balanced use of fertilizers,” said Krishnan.
At present, the price of DAP is Rs 1350 per bag, Muriate of Potash (MOP) is priced at Rs 1500 to Rs 1600 per bag, NP (20:20) is priced at Rs 1200-1300 per bag and NPK (12:32:16) is priced at Rs 1470 per bag.
Krishnan said this year so far a positive trend observed is that NPK fertilizers have increased with the decline in DAP sales.
The decline in DAP sales is due to the decline in imports from China, geopolitical tensions and problems in transportation through the Red Sea as the reasons behind the reduction in DAP imports. Further, imports were also affected due to limited DAP production capacities in the global market and volatilities in the international price.
India meets more than 90 per cent of its phosphatic fertilizers requirement through imports either in the form of raw materials or finished products. India’s annual demand for DAP is around 100 lakh tonnes, of which about 60 per cent is met by imports.