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Proceedings
The DG, FAI, New Delhi as the Chief Guest, while addressing ‘Fertilizer Policy in India’,
showed that it triggered unprecedented and concomitant increase in food grain production
from 12. 1 Mt in ’75-‘76 to 176 Mt in ’90-’91, and further pointed out the changes in
fertilizer policy in the post economic reform period (early 90s) during when P and K
fertilizers were decontrolled. At the same time, import of fertilizers other than urea and
ingredients for fertilizers like ammonia, phosphoric acid, rock phosphate, sulphur were
decanalized, while urea was decanalized through designated agencies. It was also mentioned
that the nutrient based subsidy scheme, which was introduced from April, 2010 and regarded
as the first step in the reforms process in Indian fertilizer sector, enumerates fertilizer subsidy
to be based on per unit nutrient (N, P2O5 and K2O) basis, subsidy for micronutrients (Zn and
B) in fortified fertilizers, and floating MRP with aim to completely decontrol the fertilizer
sector in the medium term. This set the tone for further discussion. Dr. Sanjeev Chopra in his
address as Guest-in-Chief, spoke at length on fertilizer and its impact on environment. He
mentioned how the ‘process driven approach’ was replaced by mechanistic ‘input driven
approach’ to suit diverse farmers’ interest over the country. He pointed out that despite Green
Revolution induced proficiency in food production in areas like Punjab, the productivity level
and the environmental priorities could not be maintained in the long run which necessitates
better understanding soil-crop-fertilizer interaction and promotion of water efficient crop
sequences in the country. Prof. D.K. Das, Former Head of Division, IARI, New Delhi and
one of the oldest students of Prof. N.P.Datta presented a detailed account in reminiscence of
Prof. Datta. Prof. D.J. Chattopadhyay, Pro-VC, University of Calcutta and Prof. Sukumar
Aditya, Past Vice-President of the Indian Chemical Society and a close associate of Prof.
Datta, both Guests-in-Chief of the present seminar, also spoke few words in reminiscence of
Prof. N.P.Dutta and his work. Prof. Kunal Ghosh, Chairman of the session while presenting
the presidential address gave a detailed account of the background and efforts made in the
preparation of the seminar. He also acknowledged and appreciated the role of FAI, University
of Calcutta and Indian Chemical Society as co-organizers for the seminar.
Issue
Gap between
production and
consumption of
fertilizers
(Source:
Y.V.N.Murthy,
FAI, Kolkata)
Nutrient
mapping in soil
(Source: Pradip
Sen, Government
of West Bengal)
Preset status and Actions suggested
The indigenous production of Urea, DAP, Complexes and SSP was 19.92, 2.99, 6.86,
2.53 million tones, respectively and the consumption of the same fertilizers was
around 26.65, 9.23, 7.03 and 2.62 million tones, respectively during 2008-09. The
gap between consumption and production of fertilizers resulted in import of 5.67,
6.19, 0.27 and 5.67 million tonnes of Urea, DAP, Complexes and Muriate of Potash,
respectively, during the same year. There is need for increasing the production of
fertilizers in order to bridge the gaps especially since the demand is always on the
increase to meet the growing food demand.
An attempt for nutrient mapping in West Bengal, for the first time, was presented
showing decreased productivity on account of decreased soil pH and deficiency in
micronutrients observed due possibly to deteriorating soil health under intensive
cultivation practices in six districts of WB. Similar fertility maps may be developed
in other areas in the country for introspection and take necessary measures for
immediate arrest of further deterioration in soil quality/ fertility and restore in due
course.
Need for organic
fertilizers along
with secondary
and
micronutrients
to meet food
security (Source:
G. Raviprasad,,
Coromandel
International
Ltd.,
Secunderabad)
Needs and
prospects for
customized and
fortified
fertilizers to
meet future
needs and avoid
skewed
consumption in
favour of
nitrogen
(Source: B. B.
Singh
Tata Chemicals
Ltd., Noida)
Economics of
application of
specialty
fertilizers with
special reference
to secondary and
micronutrients
(Source: Rahul
Mirchandani,
Aries Agro
Limited, Mumbai)
Following an analysis on fertilizer usage and how it is impacting food security, a
roadmap for achieving food security through balanced nutrition was presented with
special emphasis on use of organic fertilizers and secondary and micronutrients.
Failure to achieve the level of balanced fertilizer use targeted by planners as well as
the industry was on account of declining response to nutrients applied and
deterioration of soil quality/soil health. Part of this has been due to fiscal policies of
the Government, with skewed nutrient consumption in favour of nitrogen. Discussion
was made on the technical and commercial appropriateness of the compound
granulation route for NPK granulation. The Government may wish to correct this
situation by bringing in nutrient based prices and in allowing the industry to go in for
production and marketing of customised fertilizers and fortified fertilizers. It has also
been highlighted to create ‘spin off’ benefit of creating a far-flung market availability
of customized fertilizers with the ability of such plants to be set up in the interiors of
the country.
Declining agricultural productivity as a possible function of imbalance application of
several secondary and micronutrients like, Zn, Fe, Ca, S, etc. was discussed. The
emerging trend of multi-nutrient deficiencies in different combinations of Mn, S, K
and Zn, etc. were further highlighted. Food quality with reference to different
nutrients and its impact on human health along with possibility of fortification with
different micronutrients based on field experience across the country were discussed.
A novel viz., ‘chlelation technology’, for 100 % availability of the nutrients in
inorganic form was introduced. Their impact assessment in terms of cost-benefit
analyses was also presented. In view of growing concern to imbalanced use of
fertilizers and food quality causing health hazards appropriate attention to
fortification with these nutrients should be seriously paid.
Need-based
fertilizernitrogen
application: a
simple tool
suggested
(Source: BijaySingh,
Punjab
Agricultural
University,
Ludhiana)
Role of ICT for
IPNMS to
balanced
fertilizer use
(Source:
D.S.Yadav, FAI,
New Delhi)
Nitrate pollution
in ground water
(Source:
Biswapati
Mandal, BCKV,
WB)
Environmental
impact and
methods for
mitigation
(Source: D.D.
Patra, Central
Institute of
Medicinal and
Aromatic Plants,
Lucknow)
In order to arrest the decline of soil organic C and N while maintaining high
production levels, the immediate need is to apply fertilizer N in rational way.
One aspect of this strategy would be to more accurately match the input of
fertilizer N to crop N requirement by accounting for site-specific variations in
soil N supplying capacity and by synchronizing application with plant N
uptake. Soil and fertilizer N can thus be managed for better congruence with
crop N needs through site-specific prescription algorithms, improved timing
of N applications, more efficient fertilizer N application methods, more
efficient fertilizers and appropriate crop residue and organic manure
management for sustaining high levels of indigenous soil N supply. Cropbased approaches for in-season N management are now becoming widely
available, ranging from simple tools such as a leaf color chart to crop
simulation models or sophisticated, on-the-go sensing and variable rate N
application systems. Where soil testing services are limited, plant-led
strategies such as LCC, SPAD, chlorophyll meter, etc. might be used for
improving use efficiency of applied fertilizers.
Soil mining of nutrients is still taking place at an alarming rate and soil health is not
properly maintained. To arrest soil mining of nutrients and maintenance of soil
health, it is mandatory to develop models of Integrated Plant Nutrient Management
System (IPNMS) as per economic conditions of the farmers and available sources for
the system and that can be developed through Information and Communication
Technology. The integrated approach comprising of IPNMS is required to develop
with the help of ICT on the basis of nutrient content in the soil, recommended doses
of fertilizers and the gap between the two, farmers capacity to pay and yield level
they want to obtain etc., will have to be taken to the farming community for the
desired results. For this, sincere efforts are required. A field tested and farmerfriendly model developed for this purpose has been presented for future use.
It was presented that although relatively higher accumulation of NO3-N is mainly
restricted to shallow aquifers and its level is still far below the permissible limit in
the entire new alluvial zone of West Bengal, there is an indication of its possible
build-up in groundwater particular where the use of nitrogenous fertilizer is higher
and shallow rooted upland crops are grown. Hence it calls for steps for
rationalization of use of chemical fertilizers particularly nitrogenous ones and also
regulate the cropping pattern so that the situation does remain under control in future.
Effective management practices may lower down the cost of using enhancedefficiency fertilizers. One approach is to mix controlled- or slow-release fertilizers
with conventional urea or lower application rates of the enhanced-efficiency fertilizer
because of its possible higher N-use efficiency. Another approach is to use a variable
source N application strategy in which conventional urea fertilizer is applied to areas
of a field which have a low risk of N loss and the enhanced-efficiency N fertilizer to
the high risk areas of a field using a multi-bin spreader. It is worthwhile therefore to
explore methods to delineate the regions in which there is a greater probability for
increased agronomic response and reduced environmental N loss with use of an
enhanced-efficiency N fertilizer. Major hurdles to use of these fertilizers for
decreased environmental impacts have been summarized as due to (i) lack of
adequate understanding of the environmental conditions and management practices
that will optimize the use of these fertilizers for increased REN, (ii) non-development
of methods to identify when and where these fertilizers will be agronomically and
economically effective (e.g., variable source N management), and (iii) quantification
of the environmental benefits of using these fertilizers to justify potential funding of
the government.
Fertilizer
technology and
management
(Source:
P.V.Narayana,
IFFCO Paradeep
Unit, Orissa)
Quality control
of fertilizers
(Source: G.
Chakraborti,
Central Fertilizer
Quality Control
& Training
Institute (GoI),
Faridabad
Advancement in
spectroscopic
analysis (Source:
Vijay Aswani,
PerkinElmer
India Pvt.
Limited, Mumbai)
It is necessary to improve and sustain the productivity and reliability through
efficient technology and management by implementation of well designed processes.
The raw material conversion efficiency and energy efficiency plays a vital role in the
cost of production. There are plants as old as 35 years in operation which have
upgraded the technology to compete with the new generation plants. Continuous
Research and Development activity in the Indian Fertilizer Industry has helped in
bringing down the weighted average energy consumption of Ammonia plants of the
order of 12.48 MkCal MT-1 of ammonia during 1987-88 to 8.93 MkCal MT-1
ammonia during 2008-09. Similarly in Urea plants the weighted average energy
consumption of 8.87 MkCal MT-1 of urea during 1987-88 came down to 6.27 MkCal
MT-1 urea during 2008-09. On an average the Nitrogen recovery efficiency of
NP/NPK fertiliser plant have improved from 93% in 1992-93 to 97.7% in 2008-09,
while Phosphorous recovery efficiency improved from 94% to 98.5% during the
same period. It was further indicated, however, maintaining and running of the
equipment and machinery have become more challenging in the light of the new
fertilizer policies, and the same needs to be addressed to with appropriate
seriousness.
To ensure the availability of right quality and adequate quantity of fertilizers, at right
time and at fair price, to the farmers in all parts of the country, the Central Govt.
promulgated the orders in exercise of the powers conferred under section 3 of the
E.C.A. to regulate manufacture, quality, sale, distribution, price, movement etc. of
fertilizers, which along with major challenges and future strategies have been
discussed. It has been urged to disseminate the knowledge to all stakeholders for
awareness in quality control at all levels.
A technical overview of advancement in inorganic instrumentation techniques and its
application in agriculture segment was presented for fast soil analysis, micronutrient,
fertilizer quality control, and allied products. It has been urged to make potential use
of these facilities for faster and more accurate soil fertility analyses.