How Viable Is An Organic Shift?

There has been a significant drop in the decadal growth rate of agriculture in India.

- Kuntala Sarkar

For the 2000 – 2010 period, it has dropped to 2.61%. The Green Revolution in India was based on the idea that nutrient loss can be overcome by the use of potash and nitrates as chemical fertilisers. Agricultural experts are claiming that unabated use of chemical fertilisers and chemical pesticides in different regions in the country is one of the reasons behind the dip in agricultural productivity.

They are advocating the use of organic fertilisers and biological pesticides. Many are of the opinion that a complete shift to organic farming will improve agricultural productivity as a further dip in agricultural productivity may expose the country and its economy to a host of problems.

Organic and inorganic fertilisers

The Indian fertiliser market was worth 4,675 billion in 2017. The market is expected to touch 9,987 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 13% between 2018 and 2023. Currently, chemical fertilisers are enjoying the lion’s share of the market.

Chemical fertilisers can be divided into two categories. The first one is urea based whereas the second is a more complex variety. Urea carries only one primary plant nutrient which is nitrogen. Complex fertilisers carry two or all the three primary nutrients that is nitrogen, phosphorous and potash.

Farmers in India are not switching to organic farming in fear of less production and unavailability of adequate organic fertilisers. Fertilisers constitute only 8-10% of the total cost of cultivation, but it has the power to either enrich or damage the yield significantly. In India, the current consumption ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is 6.7:2.4:1. But the prescribed ratio of this use is 4:2:1. The situation is worse in the major agricultural states like Punjab and Haryana where these ratios are as high like 31.4:8.0:1 and 27.7: 6.1:1 respectively.