Context
As per the investigations carried out under All India Coordinated Research Project on ‘Long Term Fertilizer Experiments’ over five decades at fixed sites have indicated that continuous use of nitrogenous fertilizer alone had deleterious effect on soil health and crop productivity showing deficiencies of other major and micro nutrients.
Impacts of fertilizers
- deficiency of micro and secondary nutrients for plants
- plant physiological disorders
- nitrate contamination in groundwater
Methods to reduce impacts
- split application and placement of fertilizers
- use of slow-releasing N-fertilizers and nitrification inhibitors
- growing leguminous crops
- use of resource conservation technologies (RCTs)
- use of both inorganic and organic sources of plant nutrients
Most used fertilizer products
- Urea, Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Murata of Potash (MOP), Complexes and Single Super Phosphate (SSP)
Government efforts to promote soil health
- The Government has launched a National Mission on Soil Health Card to promote soil test based balanced and judicious fertilizer application in the country.
- Similarly, organic farming is being promoted under Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCD-NER) in the country.
