Agri min draws up project for balanced use of fertiliser

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Mumbai, Oct 14: The agriculture ministry, which is taking slew of initiatives to increase the agricultural growth to 4%, has formulated an ambitious project for the balanced use of fertilisers with an allocation of Rs 833 crore during the 11th plan period. The project titled 'National Project on Promotion of Balanced use of fertilizers', envisages the promotion of a balanced use of fertiliser, in a bid to improve soil health and crop productivity by addressing various irritants and constraints.

The agriculture ministry sources confirmed this move. They said, "Due to the implementation of this project, the annual analysing soil testing capacity will increase from the existing 6.72 million to 19.22 million samples. The annual analysing capacity of government fertiliser testing labs will increase from the existing 1.25 lakh samples to 2.05 lakh samples. Besides, an additional capacity of 1 lakh samples will be created by private entrepreneurs." According to ministry sources, the project would facilitate and promote Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) in the country, through judicious use of chemical fertilisers, including secondary and micronutrients, in conjunction with organic manures and bio fertilisers, for improving soil health and its productivity. The project also aims at strengthening soil testing facilities in the country to provide soil test-based recommendations for improving soil fertility and economic returns to farmers, to augment production of various organic sources of nutrients.

Fertiliser consumption in the country is highly skewed with wide inter-state, inter-district, and inter-crop variations. Nearly 54% of total fertiliser consumption is confined only to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Karnataka. The NPK ratio, which should ideally be around 4:2:1, was 5.9:2.4:1 during 199I-92, but worsened to 9.7:2.9:1 during 1993-94 following decontrol of P& K fertilisers during 1992-93. However, subsequent efforts by the government have increased the use of P&K fertilisers. This has had a positive impact and the NPK ratio was 5.7:2.2:1 during 2004-05 and 5.3:2.2:1 during 2005-06. There is wide inter-zone and inter-state disparity in the NPK ratio too. While it is very narrow and well balanced as 2.7:1.3:1 in the south zone and 3.8:1.4:1 in the East, it was 6.7:3.3:1 in the west and 17.4:5.1:1 in the North zone during 2004-05.