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Economy
Mahesh

13/12/22 14:25 PM IST

High use of Subsidised fertilizers

In News
  • High government subsidies are leading to excessive use of two fertilisers - Urea and Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP).
Subsidy on Urea
  • In India, urea is the most produced, imported, consumed and physically regulated fertiliser of all. It is subsidised only for agricultural uses.
  • The Centre pays a subsidy on urea to fertiliser manufacturers on the basis of cost of production at each plant and the units are required to sell the fertiliser at the government-set Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
  • The MRP of urea is currently fixed at Rs 5,628 per tonne.
Underpricing of other fertilizers
  • Government has fixed maximum retail prices of Urea & DAP. It has informally-fixed MRPs for NPKS complexes and muriate of potash (MOP).
  • Prices of other fertilizers compared to Urea & DAP are relatively higher. So farmers have little incentive to buy other fertilizers.
  • The fact that DAP does not contain K, S or other macro and micro nutrients wouldn’t matter to a majority of farmers.
  • For them, choice of fertilisers is primarily a function of prices. 
Government Initiatives
  • The Soil Health Card Scheme: Soil health card provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendation on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility.
  • Objectives- To issue soil health cards every two years to all farmers, so as to provide a basis to address nutrient deficiencies in fertilization practices.
  • Neem Coated Urea (NCU)- It is a fertilizer and an agriculture scheme is supported by the Government of India to boost the growth of wheat and paddy.
  • Apart from the increase in yield, Neem Coated Urea application has other use full effect in paddy and wheat crops.
  • Farmers have observed that the incidence of white ant was reduced with the use of Neem coated Urea in wheat crop. This is because of fragrance of Neem oil that on dissolution was released in the standing water in the standing water and insecticidal properties of Neem.
One Nation, One Fertilizer’ scheme
  • Under the scheme, all fertiliser companies, State Trading Entities (STEs) and Fertiliser Marketing Entities (FMEs) will be required to use a single “Bharat” brand for fertilisers and logo under the PMBJP.
  • The new “Bharat” brand name and PMBJP logo will cover two-thirds of the front of the fertiliser packet.
Source- Indian Express

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