[19th May 2026] The Hindu OpED: Improving efficiency of fertilizer use in India

PYQ Relevance[UPSC 2020] What are the major factors responsible for making rice-wheat system a success? In spite of this success, how has this system become bane in India? Linkage: This PYQ is highly relevant because the article directly critiques the rice-wheat dominated cropping system, driven by MSP and fertilizer subsidies, for causing soil degradation and excessive fertilizer dependence. The article’s core argument on the “fertilizer trap,” monocropping, and need for pulse diversification can be used as contemporary value addition to enrich this answer.

Mentor’s Comment

India’s fertilizer policy has entered a structural paradox: despite spending over ₹2 lakh crore annually on fertilizer subsidies, a substantial share of nutrients fails to translate into food output and instead leaks into the environment through air and water pollution. The core challenge before Indian agriculture is no longer fertilizer availability, but fertilizer-use efficiency, as excessive and imbalanced use has created a “fertilizer trap”. This trap weakens soil health, inflates fiscal burdens, and threatens long-term food security.

Why has India’s fertilizer ecosystem become structurally vulnerable?

1. Urea Dependence: India produces nearly 80% of domestic urea requirements, yet remains dependent on imported natural gas feedstock, exposing domestic prices to global energy shocks.
2. Phosphatic Vulnerability: India imports almost the entire requirement of mineral rock phosphate, creating dependence for phosphatic fertilizer manufacturing.
3. West Asia Risk: Regional conflicts in West Asia increase shipping, fuel, and raw material costs, directly inflating India’s subsidy burden.
4. Fiscal Exposure: Global fertilizer price volatility automatically raises government subsidy expenditure because domestic fertilizer prices remain politically controlled.

Strategic Concern

1. Food Security Risk: Fertilizer supply disruptions directly threaten agricultural productivity in a country where nearly half the workforce depends on agriculture.

What is the Fertilizer Trap?

A condition where excessive chemical fertilizer use reduces soil productivity, forcing farmers to apply even larger quantities to maintain the same yield.

Structural Drivers

1. Organic Matter Depletion: Excessive fertilizer application reduces soil organic carbon, weakening soil structure and long-term productivity.
2. Declining Water Retention: Chemically degraded soils lose moisture-holding capacity, increasing vulnerability to drought and erratic monsoons.
3. Diminishing Marginal Returns: Rising fertilizer application fails to produce proportional increases in output, increasing input costs without equivalent yield gains.
4. Nutrient Imbalance: Over-reliance on nitrogenous fertilizers (urea) disturbs the NPK balance (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium).

Environmental Consequences

1. Air Pollution: Nitrogen fertilizers release ammonia emissions, contributing to air pollution.
2. Water Pollution: Excess phosphates trigger water eutrophication, damaging aquatic ecosystems.
3. Climate Impact: Fertilizer misuse increases greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating global warming.
4. Biodiversity Loss: Soil microbial diversity declines due to excessive chemical exposure.

Data

1. Subsidy Inefficiency: More than two-thirds of India’s ₹2 lakh crore fertilizer subsidy reportedly fails to become food output and is instead lost to environmental leakages.

Why has India’s fertilizer subsidy regime failed to improve efficiency?

1. Subsidy Distortion
   1. Cheap Urea Incentive: Heavy subsidy makes urea disproportionately cheaper than phosphatic and potassic fertilizers, encouraging overuse.
   2. Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) Limitation: Although introduced to rationalize fertilizer use, urea remains outside effective market pricing reforms, weakening impact.
2. Technology Limitations
   1. Neem-Coated Urea: Reduces diversion and slows nitrogen release but fails to eliminate significant nitrogen losses through ammonia volatilization.
3. Policy Failure
   1. Consumption Growth: Fertilizer use continues to rise despite repeated policy attempts to improve efficiency.
   2. Weak Incentives: Subsidies reward quantity consumed, not efficiency achieved.

Institutional Gap

1. Defunct Coordination: The Interministerial National Nitrogen Steering Committee ceased functioning before implementing major reforms.

How do MSP distortions and cropping patterns worsen fertilizer inefficiency?

1. Procurement Bias
   1. MSP Concentration: Although MSP exists for 20+ crops, effective procurement remains concentrated in rice, wheat, and sugarcane.
   2. Monoculture Incentives: Farmers shift toward fertilizer-intensive crops due to procurement certainty.
2. Decline of Traditional Rotations
   1. Pulse-Cereal Breakdown: Traditional pulse-based crop rotations have weakened substantially.
   2. Nitrogen Loss: Reduced pulse cultivation lowers natural nitrogen fixation, increasing dependence on synthetic fertilizers.
3. Resource Stress
   1. Water Stress: Rice and sugarcane intensify groundwater depletion alongside fertilizer dependence.
4. Striking Trend
   1. Pulse Decline: Pulse cultivation area reportedly declined by nearly 10% between 2021-22 and 2024-25.

Why are pulses central to improving fertilizer-use efficiency?

1. Natural Nitrogen Economy
   1. Biological Nitrogen Fixation: Pulses naturally absorb atmospheric nitrogen and enrich soils.
   2. Lower Urea Requirement: Pulses require nearly 90% less nitrogen fertilizer than cereals.
2. Residual Soil Benefits
   1. Nutrient Carryover: Nitrogen fixed by pulses benefits succeeding crops.
   2. Soil Regeneration: Pulse rotations improve soil structure and microbial activity.
3. Climate Resilience
   1. Rain-fed Suitability: Pulses perform relatively better in water-stressed regions.
4. Historical Lesson
   1. Traditional Sustainability: Pulse-cereal systems sustained Indian agriculture for centuries before synthetic fertilizer dependence expanded.

Why has the Dalhan Aatmanirbharta Mission struggled to alter cropping patterns?

Mission Objectives

1. MSP Assurance: Guarantees 100% procurement of Tur, Urad, and Masoor.
2. Financial Commitment: Allocates ₹11,440 crore to increase pulse production to 350 lakh tonnes annually within five years.

Limited Ground Impact

1. Minimal Acreage Expansion: Pulse acreage increased by only 1.26% in 2025-26.
2. Persistent Decline: Expansion remains inadequate after nearly 10% contraction in pulse cultivation during 2021-22 to 2024-25.

Implementation Challenges

1. Weak Procurement Infrastructure: State agencies struggle to operationalize procurement guarantees.
2. Monsoon Dependency: Pulse cultivation remains vulnerable to rainfall fluctuations.

Judicial Concern

1. Supreme Court Observation (March 2026): Called for stronger implementation mechanisms.

What reforms can break India’s fertilizer dependence without compromising food security?

1. Organic Basal Dosing
   1. Organic Priority: Ensures compost, manure, and biochar form the base nutrient layer.
   2. Chemical Top-Up: Restricts fertilizers to supplementary nutrient requirements.
2. Integrated Nutrient Management (INM)
   1. Balanced Nutrition: Combines organic manure, crop residues, biofertilizers, and chemical fertilizers.
3. Evidence-Based Fertilizer Reduction
   1. Crop Trials: Agricultural experiments demonstrate that up to 50% of fertilizer use can be replaced by manure or biochar without yield loss.
4. Seed Innovation
   1. Nitrogen-Efficient Germplasm: Existing rice varieties may potentially double nitrogen-use efficiency per unit of urea supplied.
5. Cropping Diversification/Pulse Expansion: Strengthens procurement and market support for pulses and oilseeds.
6. Institutional Revival through National Nitrogen Governance: Revives inter-ministerial coordination for fertilizer-use reforms.

Conclusion

India’s fertilizer crisis is increasingly one of inefficient use rather than inadequate supply. Excessive chemical dependence, MSP-driven monocropping, and weak policy coordination have deepened the fertilizer trap, harming soil health and sustainability. Improving fertilizer-use efficiency through pulse diversification, organic supplementation, and targeted reforms is essential for balancing food security with ecological sustainability. 

Important Concepts

Integrated Nutrient Management (INM)

• Balanced Input Mix: Combines organic and inorganic nutrient sources to improve soil productivity.

4R Nutrient Stewardship

1. Right Source: Appropriate fertilizer selection.
2. Right Dose: Optimum nutrient quantity.
3. Right Time: Synchronised nutrient application.
4. Right Place: Efficient nutrient placement.

Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE): Measures agricultural output per unit of nutrient applied.

Government Schemes

• PM-PRANAM gives Fertilizer Reduction Incentive: Rewards states reducing chemical fertilizer consumption.
• Soil Health Card Scheme talks about scientific fertilizer application: Enables crop-specific nutrient recommendations.
• Neem-Coated Urea Scheme helps in nitrogen efficiency: Reduces diversion and improves slow nutrient release.
• National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)/Climate-Smart Agriculture: Promotes sustainable farming practices.

International Best Practices

1. European Union-Farm to Fork Strategy
   1. Nutrient Reduction: Targets 20% fertilizer-use reduction and 50% nutrient-loss reduction by 2030.
2. China-Zero Growth Fertilizer Strategy

Consumption Cap: Limits chemical fertilizer growth through precision nutrient management.