There cannot be atmanirbharta (self reliance) in chemical fertilizers since raw key materials are not available in India adequately, said economist and former chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Ashok Gulati said on Tuesday, while Fertilizer Secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra argued in favour of linking sales with agristack data to reduce consumption where there is over use of the crop nutrients.
“You may think that you can produce urea at home, but the gas (main raw material) is being imported. You may think you can produce Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) at home, but either rock or acid is getting imported to make it and MOP is 100 per cent imported. So, question of Atmanirbharta or self-reliance in chemical fertilizers is not feasible for India in the foreseeable future,” Gulati said.
He suggested efficient use of chemical fertilizers supplied either through domestic production or through imports. There is a need for balanced use of N, P, K, and micronutrients, he added.
But addressing the event, where a paper on soil health was released by think tank ICRIER, NITI Aayog Member Ramesh Chand differed with the concern on imbalanced use and said: “When we are addressing distortion in NPK, imbalance is not the right way to emphasise it. What needs to be flagged is whether we are using adequate or optimum quantity.”
Differing views
Chand also questioned the theory of 4:2:1 ratio of application of N, P, K nutrients as ideal, and stressed it to 1950s when some British agriculture scientists visited north-west region to study wheat crop and arrived at that ratio. He wondered how it has been continuing since then whereas the ratio should be calculated on the basis of crop and soil health.
Citing a study he made on the data till 2011-12, he said after collating the recommended doses at micro levels, it was found that the country should have 2.55:1.4:1 (NPK ratio) at macro level. He also said that in 13 out of 20 states use of N was less than what is considered optimum it was only in 7 States it was higher.
But, Gulati while pointing out the current subsidy policy on fertilizer as distorted in favour of urea, said: “We need to correct the pricing or link the quantity that the farmer can buy depending upon the size of farm land and conditions of soil health.” So, either there should be quantitative restriction or correction in the selling prices, he emphasised adding advisory alone is not sufficient.
Urea is sold much much cheaper in India compared to DAP and MOP due to government directives. The government has fixed urea’s maximum selling price (MRP) at about ₹267/per bag (of 45 kg) while directing companies not to raise DAP rate beyond ₹ 1,350/bag and MOP above ₹ 1,600/bag (both of 50 kg each).
Currently, it pays a subsidy of ₹43.02 per kg for Nitrogen (N), ₹47.96 per kg for Phosphorous (P), ₹2.38 per kg for Potash (K) and ₹2.87 per kg for Sulphur (S). The subsidy is announced before every season based on global prices and the domestic production costs.
Gulati also favoured using Triple Super Phosphate (TSP), which does not have any N as against DAP that contains 18 per cent N besides 46 per cent phosphorus. OCP Nutricorp of Morocco, which has 70 per cent of the global reserve of phosphate, too has been promoting its TSP in major consuming countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Stressing that there is no alternative to phosphate as yet (in terms of its application in the crops), he said the use of chemical fertilizers continue to get the yield.
Further, he suggested direct cash transfer of subsidy to the farmer and decontrol of prices of N, P and K. “My personal opinion is 70-80 per cent of the problem of imbalanced use of fertilizers will be sorted out there itself,” he said adding that will spur innovation in the industry to create products which are most suitable.
Citing the instances of Israel and the US, he said India should also shift to water soluble fertilizers from granular based crop nutrients for which subsidy needs to be extended.
But Chand said that though he has been pushing for direct benefit transfer of fertilizer subsidy from time to time, the issue is much complex and there is no one particular solution. “When I told a group of farmer leaders that DBT is implemented farmers will have to pay more than ₹2,000 to buy a bag of urea and not the current ₹267, they never demanded it after that.”
Price reforms
On the other hand, fertilizer secretary Mishra said that it was found that 65 per cent of farmers in the country purchased 5-7 bags of urea in the whole year during 2024-25. He also said that 163 districts out of 330 where fertiliser is used, were found to have consuming 22 lakh bags of urea or 1 lakh tonnes (lt) to 1.8 lt, each.
The Secretary also said that there was a pilot scheme in seven districts in four states in last Kharif season connecting between land size and fertilizer requirement with crops. In Haryana, there was a saving of 1.2 lakh tonnes of urea and 72,000 tonnes of DAP in four months, he added.
Stressing that technology is the solution and the logical connection between land size and fertilizer requirement with crops sown to help tackle the issue of imbalanced use of fertilizers, he said that there is massive campaign going on in highest consuming districts, though not necessarily those have imbalanced use of fertilizers.
Published on January 27, 2026
