SUSTAINABLE FERTILISER Perspectives on fertiliser usage

With remarkable growth after the introduction of fertiliser responsive high yielding varieties of paddy and wheat in the mid 1960s, per hectare fertiliser consumption increased from 5 kg in 1965-66 to 141 kg in 2010-11. Government and industry made concerted efforts to promote balanced use of fertilisers by targeting to achieve the ideal nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) ratio of 4:2:1 at the national level. Balanced fertiliser usage was however, severely hit with the government’s decision to decontrol phosphatic and potassic fertiliser which distorted nutrient prices and aggravated imbalanced fertiliser use.

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