Revolutionizing Agriculture
Revolutionizing Agriculture Several steps have been taken by the Government of India to become self-sufficient in fertilizers. Fertilizer plants like Sindri, Gorakhpur, Barauni and Ramagundam, which were closed for years, have been started, due to which the production has increased by 25 percent in a year. On an average, 340 to 350 lakh tonnes of fertilizer is required in India.
Revolutionizing Agriculture: It is still a big challenge for the country to become self-sufficient in the field of fertilizers while maintaining the food security for the growing population of the country, but under PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ vision, the country is gradually moving towards fertilizer production. Taking steps towards becoming self-sufficient.
How much fertilizer does India produce?
At present, India is able to produce only three-fourth of its fertilizer requirement and the rest has to be imported by India from other countries.
Let us inform, in general, India requires 340 to 350 lakh tonnes of fertilizer for Rabi and Kharif crops, but 240 to 280 lakh tonnes can be produced in India. The reason for this is that the remaining 70 to 80 lakh tonnes have to be imported from other countries.
Fertilizer production increased by 25 percent in a year
One of the major reasons behind the shortage of fertilizer in the country was the closure of production units. Five years ago, a plan was made by the government to start Sindri, Gorakhpur, Barauni and Ramagundam. As soon as these units started, the production of fertilizer has increased by 25 percent in the country within a year.Government’s emphasis on liquid nano urea.The government is making new experiments in fertilizers to make the country self-sufficient, so that fertilizers can be made available to the farmers at affordable rates on time.
At present, about 2.5 crore liquid nano urea is being produced every year from the 3 operational plants. Production is expected to start in the remaining factories by 2025-26. After this, the production of Liquid Nano Urea will reach 44 crore bottles, which will be equivalent to 195 lakh tonnes of Granulated Urea.
Money will be saved due to decrease in fertilizer import
A sack of fertilizer imported by the government from abroad costs around Rs 2,200, but the government has to pay this Rs 242 to the farmers. For this reason a huge amount is spent by the government to subsidize imported fertilizers.
Foreign agreements signed to increase fertilizer production
After the Russia-Ukraine war, the government made several efforts to increase production at the domestic level, seeing the danger looming over fertilizer imports. For this, indigenous companies were asked to set up joint ventures in resource-rich countries to obtain the necessary raw materials such as rock phosphate and phosphoric acid. At the same time, public companies have also entered into agreements with some countries for the import of raw materials such as ammonia, phosphoric acid and sulphur.
