India promotes balanced fertiliser use as global supply fears raise costs!
25 May 2026, New Delhi: India has ramped up a nationwide campaign to promote balanced fertiliser use and soil health amid renewed uncertainty in global fertiliser supply chains due to disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz.
“India has enough fertiliser stocks for the season, but rising international freight and raw material costs are putting pressure on the sector, the Indian government said. India is one of the world’s largest importers and consumers of fertilisers and is heavily reliant on overseas supplies of critical nutrients and raw materials used in fertiliser manufacturing.
In this context, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Agricultural Research and Education, has launched a countrywide farmer outreach program to reduce overdependence on urea and promote balanced nutrient application.
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said the campaign has so far reached over 27 million people through media and digital outreach and directly engaged with over 717,000 farmers across the country.
Indian agriculture has long suffered from imbalanced fertiliser consumption, especially the overuse of subsidised urea vis-à-vis phosphatic and potassic fertilisers. Industry experts and policymakers have repeatedly warned that excessive nitrogen fertiliser application is leading to degraded soil health, reduced nutrient use efficiency, and environmental stress across several agricultural regions.
Fertilisers are heavily subsidised in India, and urea is therefore much cheaper for farmers than many other crop nutrients. Traditionally, the pricing structure has led to greater nitrogen use, especially in cereal crops such as rice and wheat.
Authorities have organised about 13,000 awareness camps and seminars on soil test-based nutrient management and sustainable farming practices to tackle the issue. In addition, more than 3,100 training programmes and close to 8,000 field demonstrations have been conducted on practices such as green manuring, bio-fertilisers and organic nutrient sources.
The outreach effort has expanded from farmers and now includes village councils, farmer producer organisations, self-help groups and agricultural input dealers. More than 9,600 interaction programmes were conducted with fertiliser retailers and input suppliers to create awareness on balanced use of fertilisers.
Mass communication, including broadcasts on radio, television and digital media, as well as educational displays at more than 53,000 sites across the nation have also been instrumental in the campaign.
India’s emphasis on balanced use of fertilisers is part of an effort by policymakers to safeguard farm productivity while easing long-term pressure on soils and improving nutrient efficiency in one of the world’s largest farm economies.
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