Ashok Gulati, Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), in New Delhi on October 12, 2012. Photo: VV Krishnan | Photo Courtesy: Krishnan VV
can’t be there self-reliance Economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Ashok Gulati on Tuesday said (self-reliance) in chemical fertilizers as the raw materials are not adequately available in India, while Fertilizer Secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra argued in favor of linking sales with Agristack data to reduce consumption where crop nutrients are over-utilized.
“You can think you can produce urea at home, but the gas (key raw material) is being imported. You can think you can produce di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) at home, but the rock or acid to make it is being imported and the MOP is 100 per cent imported. Therefore, the question of atmanirbharta or self-reliance in chemical fertilizers is not possible for India in the near future,” Gulati said.
He suggested efficient use of chemical fertilizers supplied through domestic production or imports. He said that there is a need for balanced use of N, P, K and micro nutrients.
But addressing the event, where a paper on soil health was released by think tank ICRIER, NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand disagreed with the concern over unbalanced use and said: “When we are addressing distortions in NPK, emphasizing imbalance is not the right way to go. The focus needs to be on whether we are using adequate or optimal amounts.”
different views
Chand also questioned the principle of considering 4:2:1 ratio of N, P as ideal for nutrient application and stressed on the 1950s when some British agricultural scientists visited the North-West region to study wheat crop and arrived at that ratio. He wondered how this has continued since then when the ratio should be calculated based on the health of the crop and soil.
Citing a study conducted on data till 2011-12, he said that after collating the recommended doses at the micro level, it was found that the macro level in the country should be 2.55:1.4:1 (NPK ratio). He also said that in 13 out of 20 states, N use was less than what was considered optimal, in only 7 states it was more.
But Gulati termed the current subsidy policy on fertilizer as distorted in favor of urea, saying, “We need to correct the pricing or link the quantity to be purchased by the farmer based on the size of the agricultural land and the health condition of the soil.” Therefore, there should be either quantitative restrictions or improvement in selling prices, he stressed, adding that advisory alone is not enough.
Due to government directives, urea is sold much cheaper than DAP and MOP in India. The government has fixed the maximum selling price (MRP) of urea at around ₹267/per bag (45 kg), while directing companies not to increase the DAP rate above ₹1,350/bag and MOP rate above ₹1,600/bag (both 50 kg each).
Currently, it pays a subsidy of ₹43.02 per kg for nitrogen (N), ₹47.96 per kg for phosphorus (P), ₹2.38 per kg for potash (K) and ₹2.87 per kg for sulfur (S). Subsidies are announced before every season based on global prices and domestic production costs.
Gulati also supported the use of Triple Super Phosphate (TSP), which contains no N, as against DAP, which contains 18 per cent N in addition to 46 per cent phosphorus. Morocco’s OCP Nutricorp, which has 70 percent of global phosphate reserves, is also promoting its TSP in major consuming countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Emphasizing that there is no alternative to phosphate yet (in terms of its use in crops), he said the use of chemical fertilizers continues to increase yield.
Further, he suggested direct cash transfer of subsidy to the farmer and deregulation of prices of N, P and K. “My personal opinion is that 70-80 per cent of the problem of unbalanced use of fertilizers will be solved right there,” he said, adding that this will spur innovation in the industry to create products that are best suited.
Citing the examples of Israel and the US, he said India should also adopt water-soluble fertilizers instead of granular-based crop nutrients, for which subsidies need to be increased.
But Chand said that though he has been pushing for direct benefit transfer of fertilizer subsidies from time to time, the issue is very complex and there is no specific solution. “When I told a group of farmer leaders that after DBT was implemented farmers would have to pay more than ₹2,000 to buy a bag of urea, not the current ₹267, they never demanded it again.”
price correction
At the same time, Fertilizer Secretary Mishra said that it was found that during 2024-25, 65 percent of the farmers of the country purchased 5-7 bags of urea in the entire year. He also said that in 163 out of 330 districts where the fertilizer is used, consumption of 22 lakh bags of urea or 1 lakh tonne (litre) to 1.8 litre, each was found.
The secretary also said there was a pilot scheme linking fertilizer requirement with land size and crops in seven districts in four states in the last Kharif season. He said that 1.2 lakh tonnes of urea and 72,000 tonnes of DAP have been saved in Haryana in four months.
Emphasizing that technology is the solution and there is a logical relationship between land size and fertilizer requirement along with crops sown to help tackle the issue of unbalanced use of fertilizers, he said that large-scale campaigns are underway in the districts with the highest consumption, although not necessarily in those districts where there is unbalanced use of fertilizers.
Published on January 27, 2026
