Govt should deregulate fertilizer prices: Agri economist Ashok Gulati

New Delhi, Jun 2 (PTI) The government should reset its fertilizer policy by deregulating prices and allowing farmers to choose between chemical and non-chemical fertilizers, agriculture economist Ashok Gulati said on Monday.

The current policy has created a massive imbalance in fertilizer use, causing soil damage due to excessive use of heavily subsidized urea amid lacking subsidy support for zinc and other soil nutrients, said Gulati, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

"Deficiency of zinc in soils is leading to deficiency of zinc in wheat and rice, leading to stunting among children. This is the major nutritional issue," Gulati told PTI on the sidelines of an ICRIER event on "Improving Soil Health for Better Crop and Human Nutrition.' While Indian agriculture has successfully fed the country, the race to produce more has neglected the planet's health including soil, air and water, he said.

Gulati stressed the need to graduate from food security to nutritional goals. "To have nutritional security, we need to ensure the crops have enough nutrition. For which, we need to nourish the soil well." The fertilizer subsidy is larger than the entire budget of the agriculture ministry, he said. "This is the biggest dinosaur and not giving appropriate results. If we set this right, we can solve many problems of the soil." Gulati called for policy support that gives farmers full freedom to choose between chemical and non-chemical fertilizers while keeping prices undistorted. The government should also encourage non-chemical fertilizers like biochar, biostimulants and biofertilizers through proper policy support.

ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science's Monoranjan Mohanty said chemical fertilizers have played a major role in increased foodgrain production but there is a need to shift focus to non-conventional fertilizers to ensure soil health.

"We cannot substitute inorganic fertilizers, but the best way is to integrate organic with inorganic fertilizers. Maximum we can replace 25 per cent, but it depends on availability," he said.

India needs to feed its huge population and shifting purely to organic is not an option, Mohanty added. "Side by side, we have to maintain soil health. Use of biostimulants, biofertilizers, vermicompost can substitute to some extent in place of inorganic fertilizers." PTI LUX DRR