India imports nearly half of its natural gas consumption and hardly has any mineable phosphate, potash or elemental sulphur reserves.
Chemical fertilisers are made from fossil fuels and minerals having alternative industrial uses. Ammonia, the key input of nitrogenous fertilisers such as urea, is derived from natural gas that is also a transportation fuel and feedstock for petrochemicals and power generation. There is similar user competition now happening with rock phosphate ore. This raw material for manufacturing di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and other phosphorous-containing fertilisers is being increasingly used as the cathode (positive electrode) source in electric vehicle batteries, replacing more costly nickel, manganese, cobalt and aluminium oxides. As more of phosphoric acid produced from the ore deposits in Morocco, China, Egypt or Tunisia goes towards making lithium iron phosphate batteries, there will be that much less available for manufacturing phosphatic fertilisers. The resultant “food versus cars” dilemma may have echoes of the more familiar “food versus fuel” debate arising from the diversion of sugarcane, foodgrain and vegetable oils for ethanol and bio-diesel production.
India imports nearly half of its natural gas consumption and hardly has any mineable phosphate, potash or elemental sulphur reserves. Its agriculture is, hence, particularly vulnerable to global price spikes and supply disruptions. All the more reason why a country that is substantially dependent on imports, of both finished fertilisers and inputs used for their domestic manufacture, needs to focus on efficient nutrient application. There was a time when farmers had to be incentivised to use chemical fertilisers for boosting crop yields. Today, they need to be restrained from over-application. Unfortunately, the government policy of under-pricing urea and, more recently, DAP, does just the opposite.
The government must take measures to cap, if not cut, the consumption of high-analysis fertilisers like urea (having 46 per cent nitrogen content), DAP (46 per cent phosphorous) and muriate of potash (60 per cent potassium). Farmers should be weaned away from these to apply complexes and water-soluble fertilisers containing less of these nutrients that can be delivered directly to the plant’s root zone or sprayed to the leaves. Improved nutrient use efficiency will allow reduction in the consumption of bulk fertilisers and also imports of their intermediates and raw materials. The sustainability of Indian agriculture lies not only in more crop per drop (of water), but also more crop per kg (of nutrients).
