Does the policy of fertilizer subsidy to farmers will work against the government’s stated goals for the agriculture sector? Examine (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
· India’s experience with fertilisers, in the later part of the Green Revolution, prompted it to adopt a policy of subsidising fertilisers.
· Increased fertiliser usage also meant a concomitant spurt in agricultural production; total foodgrain production reached 284.95 mmt in FY19—an over-three-fold increase from the production in 1977-78.
· With the sharply increased share of urea subsidy in the total fertiliser subsidy—and the fact that nearly 77% of the cost of domestic urea production is subsidised.
· Over time, the phospatic and potassic content of the soil is affected greatly even as nitrogenous content is thrown off balance.
· The indicated N:P:K usage for Indian soil is 4:2:1. While it stood at 7:2.7:1 in 2000-01, it was still askew at 6.1:2.5:1 in 2017-18.
· Given Indian soils have relatively low nitrogen use efficiency (average of 22% estimated in 2008), the bulk of the urea applied contaminates ground- and surface water and the atmosphere.
· So, the current fertiliser policy is subsidising pollution. The bulk of the applied urea is lost as ammonia (NH3), dinitrogen (N2) and NOx (nitrogen oxides)—while the ammonia gets converted to nitrates, increasing soil acidity, NOx gases are major air pollutants. Nitrate contamination of groundwater, which leads to conditions such as methaemoglobinaemia (commonly known as blue baby syndrome), has reached far beyond WHO safe limit in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
· The government keen on shoring up domestic production—even if the costs are uncompetitive—having announced a plan to rejuvenate five plants.
· This not only goes against the Prime Minister’s call to halve urea consumption by 2022, but will also make domestic urea even more uncompetitive as the fixed costs will be higher for the rejuvenated plants.
· The government needs to get sensible, else the health of the soil, citizens (including farmers) and the industry will suffer greatly.
Chinna 5 years
Kindly review... thank you...
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good answer. Keep Writing.
Shivangi 5 years
Please review.
IAS Parliament 5 years
Try to include about the ecological impacts due to overuse of fertilizers. Keep Writing.
Shawn Gabriel 5 years
Kindly review
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good attempt. Try to mention about the usage of NPK over the years and its changing proportion in the soils Keep Writing.
