India's ICAR warns against excessive fertilizer use

ICAR, which is part of the country's agricultural and farming department, has put forward the recommendation to ultimately reduce the consumption of chemical fertilizers following a 50-year study, in a written statement from agricultural minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

A long-term fertilizer use study over five decades has indicated the negative effects of continuous nitrogen-based fertilizer consumption alone on soil health and crop productivity, with recorded deficiencies of major and micro-nutrients. Even with recommended doses of the major nutrient elements — nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium — there are deficiencies over the years, Singh Tomar stated. The overuse of nitrogenous fertilizers has also raised the possibility of nitrate contamination of groundwater.

ICAR recommends soil test-based management of nutrients with balanced use of inorganic and organic sources to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. This would reduce the deterioration of soil health, as well as protect the environment and limit the contamination of groundwater, the minister's statement said.

ICAR also advocates the split application of fertilizers, the use of slow-release nitrogen-based fertilizers and nitrification inhibitors, as well as growing leguminous crops and using "resource conservation technologies".

The study and ICAR's recommendation follow appeals from the country's finance minister in February last year to change the existing incentive system for fertilizer purchases, claiming it supports the excessive consumption of chemical fertilizers, and to boost the use of organic fertilizers.

India is among the largest consumers of fertilizers, with total domestic sales of urea, DAP, MOP, NPKs and SSP hitting 66.6mn t in 2020, up by 13pc on a year earlier. The jump in consumption follows increased sowing acreage of the summer crops last year, with the Indian agricultural ministry projecting record rice production, and accordingly record grain output, its initial forecast shows.