Encourage use of simple fertilisers, Centre tells states

To tide over the shortage of complex fertiliser di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) during the crucial kharif sowing months of April to June, the Centre has asked states to encourage farmers to use simple fertilisers like NPK and single super phosphate (SSP).

By the assessment made by the Union agriculture ministry, the availability of DAP during the crucial sowing months was around 1.6 million tonnes, as against the demand of 3 million tonnes, a shortage of almost 90 per cent.

On muriate of potash (MOP), which is also a complex fertiliser, the agriculture ministry’s assessment shows the demand has been more than the supply in the said three months. The gap is estimated to be 42 per cent during April-June.
 

REQUIREMENT AND AVAILABILITY For April-June (in lakh tonnes)
Fertiliser	Requirement	Availability	Diff
Urea	60.92	73.46	(+) 12.54
DAP	30.12	15.88	(-) 14.24
NPK	20.88	25.14	(+) 4.26
MOP	8.88	6.25	(+) 2.63
SSP	12.00	13.00	(+) 1.00
Total	132.77	133.75	(+)0.98
Source : Ministry of Agriculture

As per official estimates, India, the world’s third-largest fertiliser producer, consumed around 12.435 million tonnes of DAP in 2010-11, of which 7.41 million tonnes was imported. It consumed around 6.21 million tonnes of MOP in 2010-2011, all of which was imported.

The price of DAP in the open market for the last three months has risen around 12 per cent to almost Rs 12,000 a tonne from Rs 10,750 a tonne, while the imported price of MOP has increased 6 per cent to $492.75 a tonne in May from around $465.90 a tonne in March.

“The shortage of DAP during April to June is largely due to disturbances in West Asia, which is the main source of supply,” an agriculture ministry official said.

He said the situation could normalise from June-end as imports were expected to materialise by then. As against the combined total demand for DAP and NPK during April to June of 5.1 million tonnes, the total availability has been estimated to be around 4.1million tonnes, almost the same as last year.

Though the agriculture ministry is in favour of substituting DAP with NPK and SSP, the quantity of NPK and SSP required to substitute DAP is almost two times and NPK is also costlier than DAP.

The cabinet recently approved a rise in the import prices of DAP and MOP.

The fertiliser subsidy bill had been earmarked at Rs 53,000 crore for 2011-2012. In the last financial year, fertiliser subsidy had reached Rs 64,000 crore.