Nano DAP might hit the market by the next kharif season, says official

Single superphosphate to be included in 'One Nation, One Fertiliser' scheme in the next few months

The government is confident about the proposed nano-diammonium phosphate (n-DAP) being available to farmers from the next kharif season. A senior official said all requisite approvals are likely to be in place before n-DAP is made available.

As innovative as nano urea, n-DAP is being developed jointly by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative, in association with a private player.

“n-DAP field trials are nearly over. We are hopeful of it being available to farmers from the next kharif season,” said the official.

According to preliminary estimates, a 500 litre bottle of n-DAP is expected to be priced at around Rs 600 — half the present subsidised rate of a 50-kilogram bag of DAP priced at Rs 1,350-1,400.

DAP is the most consumed fertiliser in the country after urea. Of the estimated annual consumption of around 10-12.5 million tonnes (mt), local production is around 4-5 mt; the rest has to be imported.

n-DAP is also expected to contribute in bringing down the annual subsidy on non-urea fertilisers.

In the case of nano urea, the official said that by 2024-25, around 440 million bottles of 500 millilitres each of nano will be produced — equivalent to around 20 mt of urea.

India’s domestic urea production is around 26 mt, while demand is at 35 mt. The gap is met through imports.

“I don’t think there is a need to replace the full consumption of urea with nano because some conventional urea will still be used for non-foliar applications in later stages of a plant’s growth,” the official said.

He said the plan is to first reach the target of 440 million bottles of nano by 2025 and then stop to ensure all the conventional urea consumption is not replaced.

The official also said that the government is intending to bring single superphosphate (SSP) within the ‘One Nation, One Fertiliser’ concept under which all products will be sold under the common ‘Bharat’ brand, notwithstanding the manufacturer.

“We haven’t included SSP in the concept since the production base of SSP is slightly larger and dominated by small-scale units that might find the transition to the new regime slightly difficult, to begin with,” said the official.

The government in August this year issued an order directing all companies to sell their products under a single brand name of ‘Bharat’, to bring in greater uniformity.

After the order, all fertiliser bags — regardless of urea, DAP, Muriate of Potash (MoP) or nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (the Big 3, or NPK, of primary nutrients in commercial fertilisers) — will have to sport the brand name ‘Bharat Urea, ‘Bharat DAP’, ‘Bharat MoP’, and ‘Bharat NPK’, irrespective of the company which manufacturers it, whether in the public or private sector.

The order also stated that the single brand name and logo of the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Urvarak Pariyojana, the scheme under which the central government grants subsidies annually to fertiliser companies, will have to be displayed on bags. The company brand can be mentioned in only one-third of the fertiliser package.

On subsidies, the official said that the total unpaid dues to fertiliser companies are expected to be just around Rs 15,000-20,000 crore in 2022-23 — much lower than the past trends of over Rs 38,000-40,000 crore unpaid dues at the end of the season.

“The government is committed to providing fertilisers at affordable rates to farmers for which we have been clearing all subsidy dues to companies. Typically, three weeks’ dues are pending, which is around Rs 15,000 crore at the rate of Rs 5,000 crore per week,” added the official.