Impact of Organic Foods on Fertilizer Industry
Government of India has been promoting balanced and judicious use of fertiliser in conjunction with organic fertiliser, bio fertiliser on soil test based recommendations. All India Consumption of major fertilizers namely Urea, DAP, MOP, Complexes and SSP, during the years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 was 536.11 LMT, 543.83 LMT and 562.09 LMT respectively. The consumption of fertilizer depends on many factors namely, fertility of soil, availability of moisture in soil. Further, overall area under organic farming in the country in comparison to the gross cropped area is very less hence would not impact the chemical fertiliser industry though requirement of bio fertiliser would grow.
The demand of organic food is growing due to being chemical free and hence more safe. In order to encourage the use of organic/ bio fertilisers, Government of India has been promoting organic farming under two dedicated schemes namely Mission Organic Value Chain Development North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) and Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2015 through State Governments.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.