Government is looking at ways to promote balanced use of fertilisers by bringing down urea consumption that has resulted in a huge subsidy bill and affected soil health, sources said.
Farmers are using excessive urea as it is cheaper than decontrolled Phosphatic (P) and Potassic (K) fertilisers such as DAP and MoP, they added.
"The ideal ratio of NPK for soil health is 4:2:1, and currently the ratio is 8.3:2.7:1," said a source, adding that there is a dire need to reduce urea consumption and the government is looking at promoting balanced use of fertilisers.
Urea, which is the main source of nitrogen (N), is highly subsidised and is sold at Rs 5,360 per tonne as against the average production cost of over Rs 20,000 per tonne in 2013-14.
"In case of urea, the government pays 70-75 per cent of total cost of production per tonne as subsidy while in P and K fertilisers, the Centre pays 25-40 per cent of total cost of production as subsidy," said the source.
