India’s Atmanirbhar policy in fertiliser sector cushions farmers from global shocks

New Delhi, June 15 (IANS) Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last 12 years, the Department of Fertilisers has achieved monumental milestones, driving India toward complete self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat) and insulating its farmers from unprecedented global market disruptions.

Despite the West Asia crisis triggering a sharp rise in fertiliser prices and disrupting ship movement, the Union government has been able to mount a proactive response to ensure adequate supplies to farmers for the ongoing kharif season.

This has been made possible due to a massive boost in self-reliance in fertiliser production under the Prime Minister’s Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign over the last 12 years, according to an official statement issued on Sunday.

Six new mega urea plants have been established since 2014, adding a robust annual capacity increase of 76.2 lakh metric tonnes (LMT). Two more high-capacity urea plants with a combined annual capacity of 25.4 LMT are set to commence production shortly, the statement said.

As a result, India’s domestic urea production surged from a mere 225 LMT in 2014-15 to an all-time record high of 314.07 LMT in 2023-24. In 2024-25, production remained steady at 306.67 LMT.

Mirroring the success in urea, P&K fertiliser manufacturing reached a historic high of 211.22 LMT in 2024-25, scaling up significantly from 159.54 LMT in 2014-15. Public and private sectors are continuing this momentum by constructing state-of-the-art P&K production plants.

To address shipping delays around the Strait of Hormuz, the Union government rapidly explored alternative transit routes and engaged diplomatic channels to source materials directly from global producers.

“Under PM Modi’s direct guidance, seven Empowered Groups of Secretaries were constituted — with the Fertiliser Secretary leading 10 high-level reviews — guaranteeing seamless inter-ministerial synergy and solving domestic natural gas supply issues in coordination with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas,” the statement added.

Against a projected total requirement re-assessed by DA&FW at 383.9 LMT, against this stock as on Sunday is around 195.79 LMT for the Kharif 2026 season, India holds an opening stock of nearly 200.98 LMT. This represents an unprecedented advance availability of more than 51 per cent, far exceeding the traditional buffer standard of 33.

Domestic post-crisis production stood solid at 118.15 LMT. When combined with strategic imports and successfully concluded joint global tenders, the total post-crisis fertiliser availability witnessed a net addition of 153.79 LMT.

The Centre has also protected farmers by absorbing international inflationary shocks. While geopolitical conflicts have sent global prices soaring, the retail prices of fertilisers for Indian farmers have not been raised.

While the global market price of urea exceeds Rs 4100 per bag, Indian farmers continue to get the 45-kg bag at a heavily subsidised price of just Rs 266.5. Similarly, in the case of DAP, against a global price of more than Rs 5,000 per 50-kg bag, the fertiliser is being made available to Indian farmers at a mere Rs 1,350 a bag.

“The quantity of combined sales of newly introduced eco-friendly alternatives like fortified organic manure, and phosphate-rich organic manure soared seven times in the financial year 2025-26 compared to 2024-25. Ammonium sulphate consumption surged by nearly 60,000 tonnes. Green manuring was also introduced across a record 1.84 lakh hectares under the technical guidance of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs),” the statement added.

–IANS

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