Indian agricultural input subsides, particularly fertilizer subsidy, played a key role in achieving the remarkable growth in the country’s agricultural production. The latest Budget estimate for 2025-26 stood at ₹1,56,402 crore, nearly double that of ₹81,124 crore in 2019-20. The unlimited subsidy on fertilizers use has not only been adding to the fiscal costs but also leading to irrational application of chemical fertilizers. The continuous excessive use of chemical fertilizers is causing unintended serious damage to soil health and thereby adversely impacting the productivity of the already shrinking agricultural land.
Total cultivated area in the country declined from a peak of about 156.8 million hectares in the early 1990s to about 154.2 million hectares in 2022-23, as per the Land Use Statistics published in September 2024. With rising population, agricultural area is shrinking due to growing demand for non-agricultural uses like housing, urbanisation, industrialisation, etc. With no scope for expanding land, it is imperative to protect soil health and productivity by promoting sustainable soil management practices for enhancing food production in line with the growing demand from rising population. Towards this, there is an urgent need to reorient fertilizer subsidies to promote judicious use of chemical, organic and bio-fertilizers for sustainable soil management and ensuring future food security.
Manifold increase
Over the last six decades, use of chemical fertilizers increased manifold from about 2 kilogram per hectare (kg/ha) in the early 1960s to about 141 kg/ha in 2022-23 in the country, according to Fertiliser Association of India. At the same time, the yield responsiveness per kg of fertilizer application has declined significantly from 13.5 kg grain in 1970 to 3.7 kg grain in 2005. Research suggests that continuous excess application of chemical fertilizers has led to accumulation of sulphur that could limit the absorption of other nutrients thereby reducing the crop productivity.
To promote balanced use of fertilizers, the first step is to test the soil to understand its nutrient status. Towards this, soil health card (SHC) scheme was introduced in 2014-15 to assess soil nutrient status once in two years on saturation mode. The scheme was revised in 2019-20 to match the targets with States’ capabilities. The revised scheme picked up momentum and completed about 56 lakh tests and generated SHCs by the end of December 2024, as per the data published on the soil health card portal for 2024-25.
Among States, UP stood first with 8.26 lakh SHCs followed by Madhya Pradesh with 6.36 lakh cards and Haryana with 3.68 lakh cards, though the progress in major States like Punjab and Telangana remained very limited. Effective implementation of SHC scheme is crucial to enable requirement based fertilizer application instead of random application. Soil test based application of fertilizers can not only help in sustainable soil management but also aid in reducing costs on excessive fertilizer use thereby improving farmers’ profitability. Towards this, there is an urgent need to create widespread awareness among farmers.
In view of this, the PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness Generation, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM) was launched in 2023. Under the programme, 50 per cent of the saved fertilizer subsidy compared to the previous three-year average, will be given as a grant to the respective state. At the outset, the programme is very well thought-out initiative. However, to ensure the programme’s success, enhancing both demand and supply of organic and bio fertilizers is a prerequisite. On supply side, there is a need to increase production and availability of organic and bio-fertilizers at affordable prices. Towards this, measures including the GOBARdhan scheme, Market Development Assistance at ₹1,500/tonne, etc., need to be consolidated and strengthened.
Easy availability
Nevertheless, to promote optimal use of fertilizers, it is essential that farmers understand the need to adopt balanced use of chemical, organic and bio-fertilizers for sustainable soil productivity. Apart from subsidy, chemical fertilizers are preferred for their easy availability and usage compared to bulky organic manures. Moreover, crop growth response to chemical fertilizers is faster and more robust than organic fertilizers. Hence, it is essential to create widespread awareness among farmers about the harmful long-term impacts of excessive chemical fertilizer application on soil and the need to balanced nutrient application for sustaining soil productivity.
In this regard, agricultural research and extension system need to play a vital role in creating awareness among farmers. Towards this, the Budget allocation for agricultural research and education in the country needs to be at least doubled. However, the Budget allocation for Agricultural Research and Education was increased only fractionally to ₹10,466 crore in 2025-26 from ₹10,156 crore in 2024-25, while the allocation for strengthening of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), the district level units connecting farmers to agricultural research system, declined to ₹204 crore from ₹235 crore in the respective budgets.
Thus, there is an urgent need to scale-up efforts to create awareness among farmers about the need for judicious use of organic and chemical fertilizers based on soil tests for ensuring sustainable soil productivity with successful implementation of PM-PRANAM scheme.
Amarender is Joint Director, ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (ICAR-NIBSM), Raipur; Lingareddy is Senior Economist, Sustainable Finance and Agriculture, Mumbai. Views expressed are personal