Hisar: The recent reduction in both the weight and nutrient content of urea bags is set to increase the financial burden on farmers, a retired agricultural scientist warned.Prof Virendra Singh Lathar, former principal scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), said the central govt, under orders of the ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, reduced the weight of urea bags from 50 kg to 40 kg with effect from Jan 23. Along with this, the nitrogen content has been lowered from 46 per cent to 37 per cent, while 17 per cent sulphur has been added.
Explaining the impact, Prof Lathar said earlier each bag of urea contained about 23 kg of nitrogen, which now came down to nearly 15 kg. “This effectively means that farmers will have to pay around 37 per cent more per kg of nitrogen than before,” he said. At the current price of Rs 270 per bag, the cost of nitrogen application increased from approximately Rs 1,755 per hectare to about Rs 2,835 per hectare.He pointed out that India has nearly 16 million hectares of cultivable land and annual urea consumption exceeds 40 million metric tonnes, averaging around 2.5 tonnes per hectare — much higher than the recommendations of agricultural institutions. About 65 per cent of the country’s rain-fed farmland is used for pulses, oilseeds and horticultural crops, where urea consumption is less than one tonne per hectare annually.The remaining nearly 6 million hectares of irrigated land is devoted to high-yield crops such as wheat, rice and sugarcane. According to existing agricultural recommendations, the wheat–rice cropping cycle requires about 120 kg of nitrogen per hectare annually, equivalent to nearly 260 kg of urea containing 46 per cent nitrogen. Based on this requirement, the country would need around 30 million metric tonnes of urea. “However, nearly one-third of the 40 million metric tonnes of subsidised urea — over 10 million tonnes — is illegally diverted for industrial use,” he alleged.Referring to govt expenditure, Prof Lathar noted that Rs 1.32 lakh crore was allocated for urea subsidies in the Union Budget 2022–23. “Instead of plugging leakages and misuse, the govt is trying to reduce the subsidy burden through impractical measures such as cutting the weight and nitrogen content of urea and promoting ineffective alternatives like nano urea,” he said, adding that such “technically confused policies pose a serious threat to farmers and agriculture”.He also expressed concern over the addition of 17 per cent sulphur in the new 40 kg urea bags. According to agricultural recommendations, oilseed crops require 12–15 kg of sulphur per acre, while cereals, pulses and vegetables need only 8–10 kg per acre. “To meet the annual nitrogen requirement of 120 kg per acre in the wheat-paddy cycle, farmers will need eight bags of 40 kg urea. This will add more than 55 kg of sulphur per acre to the soil, which is excessive and potentially harmful,” he warned.Excess sulphur, he said, increases the risk of crop burning, stunted plant growth and reduced yields. In the long term, higher sulphate accumulation could lead to increased soil salinity, adversely affecting sensitive crops and posing a serious challenge to sustainable agriculture in the country. MSID:: 127910438 413 |
