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Government calls for stricter checks on use of nano urea, crop growth boosters
The agriculture ministry is tightening checks on nano urea and biostimulants after farmer complaints about costs and effectiveness, urging validation before sale.
The Union agriculture ministry has called for stricter checks on crop nutrients such as nano urea and a possible ban on growth boosters known as biostimulants after complaints from farmers that these have increased costs without clear results, a move that follows an initial policy to push a set of newer forms of fertilisers.
Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered a crackdown on unregulated biostimulants, said to have no proven benefits on crop health, besides writing to states to prohibit the forced selling of nano urea, a newer, liquid form of the fertiliser popularised by the Modi government as a more efficient alternative since being launched in 2021.
To be sure, the government has not changed its policy of promoting nano fertilisers, which, it maintains, yields better results when used as recommended. However, in the case of biostimulants, Chouhan has ordered that no such formulation can be sold without validation by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
Chouhan’s directions came after long-standing complaints of widespread sale of fake, spurious and inactive formulations, especially biostimulants. The minister had said earlier this month that he had received complaints of farmers being forced to buy nano urea along with conventional fertilisers.
The farm ministry had earlier pushed state governments to promote the use of nano fertilisers, which has helped to save imports of over 60 million 45-kg bags of the nitrogen-rich fertiliser because the liquid form is said to be far more potent in much smaller quantities.
In a letter to chief ministers last week, Chouhan referred to farmers’ complaints that dealers were not selling conventional subsidised fertilisers such as urea and DAP unless they also bought nano-fertilisers or biostimulants.
“It is illegal to force farmers to purchase other products by tagging them with conventional fertiliser bags,” Chouhan wrote.
India relies on imports of finished fertilisers and raw materials to meet domestic demand. The government subsidises these crop nutrients to farmers through manufacturers and importers, who sell them at a discount. These firms are then reimbursed by the government. Urea accounts for about 70% of the overall fertiliser subsidy bill.
The minister, in his letter, said “forced tagging of nano-fertilisers or bio-stimulant products” with regular fertilisers should be immediately stopped.
Although the government has widely promoted the use of nano fertilisers, farmers are sceptical about its performance and some studies have found that they aren’t as effective.
Last year, a two-year field study on the efficacy of nano urea by scientists from the Punjab Agricultural University found a 21.6% decrease in wheat yield and a 13% decrease in rice yields in farms using the nano form in comparison to conventional urea. The study was done in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Nano urea costs more even though it needs to be applied less. “But I haven’t seen any difference in my yields. It’s pointless,” said Sharanjit Pal, a rice-grower from Punjab’s Malerkotla.
In a reply to Rajya Sabha on March 11 this year, the government said it was promoting the use of nano urea through “different activities such as awareness camps, webinars, nukkadnataks (street plays), field demonstrations, kisan kammelans (farmers’ meets) and films in regional languages”.
