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Chemical nutrients have a very important role in enhancing farm productivity and it would be difficult to achieve the set goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 without the help of the domestic fertiliser industry, said agriculture economist and NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand on Thursday.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation has shown that a farmer who uses around 150 kg of fertiliser for one hectare paddy crop gets an income of ₹26,000, whereas if the fertiliser use is limited to less than 50 kg/ha, the income plummets to ₹6,500 per hectare, Chand said while addressing an annual seminar of the Fertiliser Association of India.
Not many studies have looked at the role played by fertilisers in improving farm income, he said adding that the fertiliser industry may have to increase its urea production capacity to 36 million tonnes by 2022-23 to achieve a doubling of farmers’ income.
Earlier, addressing the gathering, Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, said the government was aware of the turmoil through which the fertiliser industry was passing.
According to FAI Director-General Satish Chander, the Government has promised the industry that it would clear dues of ₹22,000 crore and disburse fertiliser subsidy of ₹70,000 crore for the year, by March 31.
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