Approach

Introduction: Mention the data with regard to urea consumption in India and the causes for the same.

Body: Mention the concerns over rising urea consumption in India. Also, mention the steps that the government has taken to reduce Urea consumption in India.

Conclusion: Suggest what more needs to be done.

Answer

Urea is India’s most widely used fertilizer, with its consumption rising from 26.7 million tonnes (mt) to 35.7 mt between 2009-10 and 2022-23. This is due to the fact that the maximum retail price (MRP) of urea has been unchanged at Rs 5,628 per tonne since November 2012 whereas the per-tonne MRP of di-ammonium phosphate is Rs 27,000, muriate of potash is Rs 34,000 and for most complexes, the MRP ranges between Rs 28,000-31,000.

Concerns over rising urea consumption in India:

1. Increasing Import Bill: India’s nearly 36-mt annual consumption of urea is today next only to China’s 51 mt, with the latter’s production largely coal-based. Out of this 36-mt sold last fiscal, imports accounted for 7.6 mt. Even with regard to domestically manufactured urea, the feedstock used (natural gas) is mainly imported.
2. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE): Barely 35% of the N applied through urea in India is actually utilized by crops to produce harvested yields. The balance 65% N is unavailable to the plants, much of it “lost” through release into the atmosphere as ammonia gas or leaching below the ground after conversion into nitrate. Declining NUE, from an estimated 48% in the early 1960s, has resulted in farmers applying more and more fertilizer for the same yield. This leads to contamination of groundwater, soil, land, etc.
3. Soil Degradation: On account of increased use of urea we are currently facing the issue of imbalance fertilization as the N:P: K ratio is skewed. While the ideal N:P: K ratio is 4:2:1, in 2001 the ratio stood at 28:8:1 for north India, and the national average was 7:2.7:1 and currently it is 13:5:1. This skewed N:P: K ratio would adversely affect the health of plants and humans, due to the unavailability of a balanced nutrient mix.
4. Health impacts: Overuse of fertilizers pollutes groundwater and if infants drink water with high levels of nitrate (or eat foods made with nitrate-contaminated water) they may develop blue baby syndrome, which affects oxygen transportation in the blood, resulting in the blueness of the skin in babies.
5. Declining Crop yield: Over time, though, crop yield response to fertilizer use has more than halved: 1 kg of NPK nutrients yielded 12.1 kg of cereal grains in India during the 1960s, but only 5 kg during the 2010s. The underlying reason has been the disproportionate application of N by farmers.

Steps taken by GoI:

1. Nutrient-based subsidy (NBS), 2010: Under NBS, the government fixed a per-kg subsidy (unlike the earlier product-specific subsidy regime) for each fertilizer nutrient: Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potash (K) and Sulphur (S). It aims to promote balanced fertilization by discouraging farmers from applying too much urea (46% N), di-ammonium phosphate (DAP - 46% P plus 18% N) and muriate of potash (MOP - 60% K).
2. Neem Coated Urea: In 2015, the Centre made it mandatory to coat all indigenously manufactured and imported urea with neem oil. It slows down the release of nitrogen into the soil which helps in reducing nitrogen leaching and volatilization, leading to improved nitrogen use efficiency by plants. Consumption did dip in the initial two years, but that trend reversed from 2018-19.
3. Replaced 50-kg bags with 45-kg ones, 2018: This was done with a view to bringing down the consumption by 10 per cent. In the light of increased effectiveness of NCU (neem-coated urea), the government vide notification dated September 4, 2017, has decided to introduce a 45 kg bag of urea in place of the existing 50 kg bag.
4. Liquid ‘Nano Urea’: It was launched by the Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) in 2021. It is essentially urea in the form of a nanoparticle aimed at reducing the unbalanced and indiscriminate use of conventional urea, increasing crop productivity, and reducing soil, water, and air pollution.
5. Checking illegal diversion of Urea for non-agricultural use: Officials said around 10-12 lakh tonnes of the subsidized chemical fertilizers get diverted annually to various industries such as plywood, resin, crockery etc. Thus, the government constituted fertilizer flying squads which have conducted more than 370 surprise inspections across 15 states to check the illegal diversion of subsidized Urea for non-agricultural use.

In order to further address the nutrient balance of the soil, the government should raise the price of Urea, and promote organic fertilizers and precision farming. To improve NUE the government should subsidize the cost of spraying liquid urea and should promote fortification of Urea i.e., coating it with secondary nutrients (S, calcium and magnesium) as well as micronutrients (zinc, boron, manganese, molybdenum, iron, copper and nickel).