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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Farmers and fertiliser spend: How to make nutrient-based subsidy a success -Anuj Agarwal

Farmers and fertiliser spend: How to make nutrient-based subsidy a success -Anuj Agarwal

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published Published on Jan 30, 2018   modified Modified on Jan 30, 2018
-The Financial Express

The NSSO 70th round survey estimates there are 156 million rural households in India, of which 57.8% are agricultural. Average monthly expenditure on crop production by cultivating agricultural households during July 2012-June 2013 was Rs 2,192. Of this, 24% is spent on fertiliser and manure. Using survey results, rough calculations suggest agricultural households’ spend on fertiliser/manure would be in the range of Rs 78,000-1,20,000 crore in next cropping year 2018-19. Adding the fertiliser subsidy bill, this amounts to around 1.7% of India’s consumption expenditure. This will have a direct bearing on around 10% of GDP (value added by crops).

There is a huge scope for improving efficiency of this spend. In the wake of oil crisis and rise in global fertiliser prices, the government introduced a subsidy on fertilisers in 1970s under the “retention price” framework. High-yielding varieties of seeds coupled with subsidised fertilisers boosted agricultural output. This increased fertiliser consumption as well as domestic production. Even when oil prices subsided, the fertiliser subsidy was in place. With the mounting subsidy bill, the government partially decontrolled prices of P and K fertilisers. Price of urea was still controlled, which was increased at a marginal pace. Higher prices of P and K promoted increased usage of urea.

Estimates put current domestic consumption of fertilisers at 57 million tonnes annually. Of this, 50% is attributed to urea, and diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) account for 20%. This is primarily due to the skewed nature of fertiliser subsidy in India. Retail prices of MOP and DAP are around two and four times that of urea, respectively. The government subsidises 70-75% cost of urea. Prices of P and K fertilisers are partially decontrolled under the nutrient-based subsidy scheme. This has distorted the soil nutrient ratio from an ideal 4:2:1 for NPK to 6.3:2.6:1.

Research suggests incremental gains in output beyond 4.2 units of N (nitrogen) is zero or somewhat negative. This excessive and wasteful use of urea costs farmers and the government Rs 8,540 crore. Hence, there is a strong case to rationalise the fertiliser subsidy and optimise the spend on fertilisers both by the government as well as by the farmer. The government is trying to reduce the consumption of urea in the country in order to reduce its subsidy bill. With 100% neem coating of urea, the government has now asked fertiliser manufacturers to provide 45kg bags in place of 50kg. Most farmers use fertilisers by an estimate in terms of bags and not the actual volume. Providing urea in 45kg bags will straight away bring down the consumption of urea by almost 10%. This will roughly result in savings of Rs 1,608 crore at the retail spends by the farmer (assuming the 45kg bags are priced proportionately to current prices). Consequently, this additional purchasing power can be spent on other nutrients. Additionally, neem coating has acted as a check on urea from being diverted to non-agricultural uses and across the border.

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The Financial Express, 29 January, 2018, http://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/farmers-and-fertiliser-spend-how-to-make-nutrient-based-subsidy-a-success/1033838/


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