By: ICN Bureau
Last updated : December 12, 2022 9:28 am
The Govt has increased the amount of fertilizer subsidy from US $10 bn for the pre-pandemic year 2019-20 to almost US $27 bn in the current year
Our government has brought various reforms and ensured that fertilizers are made available at affordable prices to Indian farmers and we have done this by increasing the amount of fertilizer subsidy from US $10 billion for the pre-pandemic year 2019-20 to almost US $27 billion in the current year, says Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya while inaugurating the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) Annual Seminar 2022 (Fertilizer Sector by 2030) at New Delhi last week
The event was also attended by Arun Singhal, Secretary, Department of Fertilizers; Arvind Chaudhary, DG FAI; K. S. Raju, Chairman FAI; representatives of Industries; and other senior officials of the Ministry.
The Minister said, “The world today faces severe challenges in the rising costs and availability of fertilizers. There is a dire need for our global partners to have reasonable and transparent mechanisms and take long-term views in dealing with issues of fertilizers in the larger interest of global food security.”
He added that the world is still dealing with three shocks: Conflict in Ukraine; Consequences of Covid 19; and climatic disturbances. Together these factors make a powerful case to grow our supply chains and strengthen self-reliance to meet food and health security goals.
Dr. Mandaviya said, “Long-term agreements and MoUs will have an important role to play in making steady progress in this direction. Our government has facilitated various such agreements and MoUs between Indian fertilizer companies and foreign suppliers to ensure stability in fertilizer supplies to our farmers.”
He said, “India’s economic recovery is propelled by reforms in various areas including manufacturing, labour, agriculture, education, and of course, improving the ease of doing business. Towards this direction, concrete steps are taken to promote 'Make in India’ in the fertilizer sector by reviving five closed urea plants. By 2025, India will become self-sufficient in urea. One of the recently introduced schemes of our government is “One Nation One Fertilizer” under which Urea, MOP, DAP, and NPK will be sold under the uniform Bharat brand to bring uniformity in the quality and brands”.
The Minister also informed another initiative introduced is the concept of “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras” to convert all retail fertilizer outlets of about three lakhs into single window service centres for the farmers.
Mandaviya strongly urged the industry to look at developing new farm solutions for improving nutrient use efficiency as it positively impacts the entire value chain and will significantly help in achieving sustainable goals. He also said that the industry must drive research efforts towards alternative fertilizers and new-age smart solutions. Nano fertilizers are an excellent example towards optimizing efficiency, economy and ecology.
On this occasion, Mandaviya also released three FAI publications and the FAI Data portal. This portal will create a uniform database and avoid manual input of data by FAI.
FAI Annual Seminar is devoted to the theme ‘Fertilizer Sector by 2030’ and there were presentations on technologies for green fertilizers, worldwide developments in the sustainability area, sustainable agriculture, green financing, and optimizing cost of logistics.