Archive · 10 Nov 2025
Indian Farmers Urged to Balance Fertilizers for Higher Crop Yields
Imagine plants are like kids who need different foods to grow strong.
Right now, farmers in India are giving plants too much of one food, nitrogen, and not enough of another important one, potassium.
This is like only eating candy and never vegetables – it's not healthy for the plant.
Scientists found that if farmers use potassium more like they use nitrogen, their crops, like rice, can grow much bigger and better, even without using more total food.
The government currently spends a lot of money making nitrogen fertilizer cheap, which encourages farmers to use too much.
If the government changes how it helps pay for fertilizers and teaches farmers more about what plants need, crops can grow more, and the environment can be healthier.
This is because too much of any chemical can also harm the soil and water.
Indian farmers predominantly use nitrogen fertilizers, leading to imbalanced nutrient application.
A study suggests that increasing potassium-to-nitrogen ratios in fertilizers can significantly boost rice yields.
Differential subsidies and a lack of farmer awareness contribute to persistent fertilizer imbalances.
Correcting nutrient imbalances offers potential for increased farm productivity, reduced fiscal costs, and improved environmental outcomes.
Policy recommendations include recalibrating subsidies, improving the supply chain for potassium fertilizers, and strengthening farmer education on balanced fertilization.
- Who
- Indian farmers, researchers, policymakers
- What
- A study indicates that balancing the ratio of potassium to nitrogen in fertilizers can significantly increase crop yields, and policymakers are urged to recalibrate subsidies and improve farmer education.
- When
- Recent research and ongoing agricultural practices in India
- Where
- India, with specific study data from rice farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha.
- Why
- Imbalanced fertilizer use, particularly excessive nitrogen, leads to suboptimal crop yields and environmental degradation. Correcting this imbalance offers potential for increased productivity, reduced costs, and environmental benefits.
Current Practices
Recommended Practices
Fertilizer Usage Ratio
Current Practices
Indian farmers heavily rely on nitrogen-based fertilizers, particularly urea, with application rates nearly eight times higher than potassium.
Recommended Practices
Balancing fertilizer application by increasing the ratio of potassium to nitrogen could significantly boost crop yields.
Focus of Extension Services
Current Practices
Fertilizer extension services historically emphasize nitrogen as the primary yield-determining nutrient.
Recommended Practices
Extension services should be strengthened to highlight nutrient balance, not just overall fertilizer use, promoting the complementary role of nutrients like potassium.
Subsidies
Current Practices
Differential subsidies across fertilizer types distort optimal input choices by affecting relative prices, reinforcing high nitrogen use.
Recommended Practices
Recalibrating the current structure of fertilizer subsidies is necessary to encourage more balanced fertilization practices.
- Fertilizer Subsidy Cost (Annual)
- US$10 billion - US$11 billion
- Nitrogen vs. Potassium Use (Study Area)
- Nitrogen application is almost eight times higher than potassium use (e.g., >120 kg/ha N vs. ~15 kg/ha K for rice).
- Yield Increase from Balanced Fertilization
- A one-standard-deviation increase in K-to-N ratio is associated with a 16% rise in yields.
- Yield Increase (Doubling K-to-N)
- Doubling the K-to-N ratio without increasing overall expenditure could raise yields by almost 5%.
- Farmer Knowledge on Potassium
- Only 45% of surveyed farmers could correctly identify potassium-based fertilizers.
- Average Correct Response Rate (Fertilizer Knowledge)
- 26%