Total sales of fertilisers increased by 2 per cent following a jump in urea sales by 7 per cent and that of di-ammonium phosphate by 15 per cent during the April-February period of the current fiscal. But the use of two other categories of fertlisers — muriate of potash (MoP) and complex (combination of nutrients) — dropped during the period. Experts said the skewed usage may further add to the fertiliser imbalance in soils unless prices of these fertilisers are changed.

India’s urea consumption, which dropped for the first time in five years during 2021-22, was 341.18 lakh tonnes (lt) during April-February of 2022-23, higher than 338.64 lt in the entire 2021-22 fiscal. Though the government is hopeful of reduction in conventional urea consumption after introduction of nano-urea, which is not subsidised, it may take more time.

Solution to the problem

“Urea is the cheapest and increase in prices of other fertilisers make the nitrogen-contained nutrient more attractive for farmers, especially who are not that aware. Further, MoP now costs ₹400/bag higher than DAP whereas earlier both were available at same rates and complex has gone up very high,” said an industry official. Unless the pricing anomaly is set right, it will be difficult to prevent the skewed usage, he said, adding a slight increase in MRP of urea every year could be a solution.

At a recent briefing, a top official of the Fertiliser Ministry had said the government wants to reduce the consumption without affecting the food security and it does not want to force farmers to cut chemical fertilisers usage without ensuring alternative bio-fertilisers.

According to the latest data, sales of key fertilisers (urea, DAP, MoP and complex) were 559.97 lt during the April-February period of the current fiscal against 547.09 lt in the same period a year ago, up by 2.4 per cent. While sales of urea DAP surged by 15.3 per cent to 101.35 lt, those of MoP declined 34.7 per cent to 15.21 lt and complex went down by 11.6 per cent to 102.23 lt.

Urea import down

The current retail price of urea is ₹266.5/45 kg bag whereas that of DAP is ₹1,350/50 kg bag and MoP ₹1,750/50 kg bag. Complex fertilisers sold at average ₹1,200-1,800/bag depending on the nutrients.

Meanwhile, urea import data show that there was less than 1 lt import in February and a little over 1 lt in March which led to overall import of urea reaching near 75 lt during current fiscal, down from 91.36 lt last year. Import of MoP was also down by 18.8 per cent to 13.93 lt until February. But, DAP import surged 40.3 per cent to 66.48 lt and that of complex more than doubled to 24.35 lt. Total fertiliser import was 178.71 lt during April-February, which was 14 per cent higher than 156.76 lt a year ago.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW