Incredibly, as much as 70 per cent of the farmers’ investment in fertilisers normally goes waste. The reason is outmoded fertiliser products and their inefficient use. In the case of urea, the largest consumed and the most heavily subsidised nitrogenous (N) fertiliser, between 50 and 70 per cent of the applied material is generally lost due to leaching, volatilisation and other causes. In other words, only 30 to 50 per cent of it is actually gainfully utilised by the crops. The fate of phosphatic (P) fertilisers, which are costlier than urea, is even worse. The wastage is as high as
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