Page 4 - Fertilizers

Limit chemical fertiliser use, promote organic farming: Ramnath Thakur

Union Minister Ramnath Thakur said on Saturday that the Centre is focusing on limiting the use of chemical fertilisers in agriculture and promoting organic farming, especially in the northeastern states. He maintained that budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector has increased manifold under the BJP-led NDA government, with special attention on minimising problems faced by farmers. Addressing a press conference on the provisions of Union Budget 2024-25, Thakur said, You must have seen in media that two states have been given special attention in this Budget Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. But our Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ji has already clarified that not just two states, allocations have been made for all states across sectors, be it railways, health, agriculture or other." The Union budget had been prepared under the guidance of the prime minister, after taking into account the problems faced by different states, he said. In the agriculture sector, where the use of ..

Govt provided Rs 37,000 cr fertiliser subsidy till July 22: Minister Patel

The government has provided nearly Rs 37,000 crore fertiliser subsidy so far this fiscal to ensure adequate supply of crop nutrients to farmers at affordable prices, Parliament was informed on Friday. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Anupriya Patel said, "The government provides subsidy to ensure adequate availability of fertilisers at affordable prices to the farmers. Under 'DBT in Fertilizers' system, 100 per cent subsidy on various fertiliser grades is released to the fertiliser companies, on actual sales to the beneficiaries based on Aadhar authentication through POS (point-of-sale) devices installed at each retail shop." She provided details of fertiliser subsidy provided by the government since the 2010-11 fiscal. According to the data, the total fertiliser subsidy stood at Rs 36,993.39 crore till July 22 of the 2024-25 fiscal. In the previous financial year, the subsidy has gone down to Rs 1,95,420.51 crore from Rs 2,54,798

Cancer risk from some pesticides comparable to that due to smoking: Study

The effect of exposure to certain pesticides "rivalled" that of smoking in increasing cancer risk in farmers, according to a US study that compiled 69 such chemicals, including four commonly used in India. Researchers found that for three types of cancer -- non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia and bladder cancer -- the effects of pesticide exposure were "more pronounced" than those of smoking, widely acknowledged as a cancer risk factor. "We present a list of major pesticide contributors for some specific cancers but we highlight strongly that it is the combination of all of them and not just a single one that matters," senior author Isain Zapata, an associate professor at the Rocky Vista University, US, said. The list, compiled in the study published in the journal Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society, features 69 pesticides, including 2,4-D, Acephate, Metolachlor, Methomyl. These four are among many commonly used in India to combat various threats to crop yields, such as insects an

Fertiliser stocks zoom up to 7% amidst healthy monsoon expectations

Shares of fertiliser companies rose up to 7 per cent on the BSE in Monday's intra day deal amidst healthy monsoon predicted by IMD

Iffco plans to begin production of Nano Urea Plus fertiliser this week

Cooperative major IFFCO on Monday said it will begin production of the 'Nano Urea Plus' fertiliser this week and its commercial sale from May 1. Nano Urea Plus is a new version of nano urea meant for meeting crop nitrogen requirements at critical growth phases. Currently, IFFCO offers 'Nano Urea' with 1-5 per cent weight by weight nitrogen content. However, the Nano Urea Plus fertiliser has 16 per cent nitrogen content weight by weight. "We will start the production of Nano Urea Plus this week and the product will be available in the market from May 1," a senior IFFCO official told PTI. The production of Nano Urea Plus will begin at IFFCO's three plants, each with the capacity to produce 2 lakh bottles every day. The government has already notified the specifications of the Nano Urea Plus fertiliser and IFFCO will manufacture it for three years. The IFFCO official said Nano Urea Plus is a chlorophyll charger and yield booster and helps in climate-smart farming. IFFCO has three n

New govt may kick off pesticide, seed reforms in agriculture sector

The industry wants reforms in the Central Insecticides Laboratory (CIL) as well to cut down on pending lists and time taken for clearance of new applications

PM Modi launches development projects worth Rs 35,700 cr in Jharkhand

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for projects worth Rs 35,700 crore in Jharkhand. Among various projects, he dedicated to the nation the Rs 8,900-crore fertiliser plant of Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd in Sindri in Dhanbad district. The plant will add about 12.7 LMT (lakh metric tonne) per annum of indigenous urea production, benefiting farmers of the country. This is the third fertiliser plant to be revived in the country, after such facilities at Gorakhpur and Ramagundam, which were also dedicated to the nation by the prime minister in December 2021 and November 2022 respectively. India's urea production reached 310 lakh tonne now from 225 lakh tonne in 2014, a significant step towards self-dependence in fertiliser, he said. PM Modi also launched rail, power and coal projects worth over Rs 26,000 crore in Jharkhand. "Jharkhand got a gift of projects worth over Rs 35,000 crore. It was Modi's guarantee to revive the Sindri ...

Govt provides nearly Rs 1.71 trn as fertiliser subsidy till Jan in 2023-24

The government has provided nearly Rs 1.71 lakh crore as fertilisers subsidy till January in this fiscal year, Parliament was informed on Friday. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba said the government provides subsidy on various fertilizers to ensure adequate availability of fertilizers at affordable prices to farmers. "The subsidy provided for fertilisers in the country for the year 2023-24 (as of January 31, 2024) is Rs 1,70,923 crore," he added. The Government has implemented Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) policy with effect from April 1, 2010, for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) Fertilizers. Under the policy, a fixed amount of subsidy, decided on annual/semi-annual basis, is provided on notified P&K fertilizers depending on their nutrient content. "Under this policy,P (maximum retail price) is fixed by fertilizer companies as per market dynamics at reasonable level which is monitored by the government. Accordingly, .

Nano DAP to bring down fertiliser subsidy bills, says industry body

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the expansion of Nano DAP application across various crops in all agro-climatic zones on Thursday

Fertiliser subsidy bill likely to be within FY24 BE: Minister Mandaviya

He said actual subsidy expenditure would have been lower if freight charges had not risen due to Red Sea crisis

Don't mislead farmers over neem-coated urea price: Mandaviya to Akhilesh

Fertiliser Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday made it clear that neem-coated urea is currently sold at Rs 266.5 per 45 kg bag and the same rates will continue, while hitting back at Samajwadi Party (SP) National President Akhilesh Yadav for misleading farmers over the issue. Responding to Samajwadi Party President's January 7th post on X, Mandaviya wrote on the social media platform, "First of all, I want to make it clear to you that neem-coated urea was available at Rs 266.5 per 45 kg bag, is available now, and will continue to be available." The research has led to development of new sulfur-coated 'Urea Gold' in the interest of farmers, he said and added that its new quantity and price have been decided. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the SP leader had raised questions on the vaccine made in the country. The entire country and scientists have not been able to forget, he wrote on X. "Today again you have made fun of the same scientists. I hope that you will not mislead the

SPIC Group pledges to invest Rs 1,900 crore in Tamil Nadu over next 2 years

SPIC is earmarking Rs 970 crore to revamp the existing urea plant, augment capacity, and establish a 150 MTPD (metric tones per day) green ammonia plant

GSP Crop Science eyes Rs 1,800 cr revenue in FY25; 6-7% mkt share in 4 yrs

Agrochemicals manufacturer GSP Crop Science is eyeing Rs 1,800 crore in revenue in 2024-25, following its domestic as well as overseas market expansion, a top company executive has said. "In 2022-23, our annual revenue was at Rs 1,600 crore. We are looking at Rs 1,800 crore revenue in FY25. Overall our target is to reach Rs 2,500 crore in next 3-4 years with the addition of overseas business especially in Brazil," GSP Crop Science Managing Director Bhavesh Shah told PTI. Shah said the company is working towards reducing its dependency on China for raw materials and planning to produce intermediaries needed to develop crop solution products. "In order to reduce our raw material dependency on China, we are planning to gradually produce intermediaries needed for manufacturing our products. We are setting up our third manufacturing unit in Dahej in Gujarat with an investment of Rs 100-110 crores. In this unit we will initially produce 4 intermediaries," he added. The company is focusin

Urea, DAP fertilizers availability comfortable in ongoing rabi season: Govt

The availability of two key fertilisers, urea and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), has remained comfortable during the ongoing 2023-24 rabi season, Parliament was informed on Friday. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Bhagwanth Khuba said about 132.77 lakh tonne of urea has been made available for the October-December period of the ongoing rabi season, which is higher than the requirement of 91.05 lakh tonne for the same period. Total urea requirement for the entire 2023-24 rabi season is pegged at 185.41 lakh tonne, he said. Even the availability of DAP has remained comfortable in the country during the ongoing rabi 2023-24 season, he added. The minister also mentioned that there is no such report of artificial demand/shortage of urea that has come to its notice. Urea and DAP are two widely used fertilisers in the country. Currently, sowing of rabi crops like wheat and pulses is underway. Sowing begins from October and harvesting fro

India warns global fertilisers suppliers against price cartelisation

India on Wednesday warned global fertilisers suppliers against price cartelisation saying a steep rise in crop nutrients in recent times is unacceptable and consuming nation will look at the alternative if this is not checked. Addressing the annual seminar of the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI), Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said India has already innovated alternate fertilisers like nano liquid urea and nano liquid Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) as part of its efforts to become self-sufficient. The minister pointed out that global suppliers took advantage of the crisis in the global market during the Russia-Ukraine war and raised prices of phosphatic and phosphoric acid He said global prices of DAP have increased to USD 590 per tonne from USD 450 in just 15 days. "It's not good. This is not the time that we do not work together," he said and asked global suppliers not to engage in price cartelisation. The minister said this is not in the interest of ...

Coromandel International Q2 results: Net profit rises 2% to Rs 755 crore

Coromandel's total income for the quarter ended September 2023 was at Rs 7,033 crore, versus Rs 10,145 crore for the quarter ended September 2022

Centre approves Rs 22,303 cr subsidy on P&K fertilizers for rabi season

The FY24 Budget had estimated the subsidy expenditure on non-urea fertilisers at Rs 44,000 crore for the 2023-24 financial year

Coromandel commissions Rs 400 cr sulphuric acid unit in Visakhapatnam

Fertiliser firm says it will also set up desalination plant to meet its requirements

Coal India, GAIL, RCF to partner to invest $372 mn in fertiliser JV

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - State-run firms, Coal India, GAIL India, and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF), will invest 30.95 billion rupees ($371.90 million) in their fertiliser joint venture in Odisha, two government officials told Reuters.

PM Janaushadhi Kendras-like stores for animal medicines on the cards

The Janaushadhi Kendras are a collaboration between government agencies and private entrepreneurs