NEW DELHI, March 22 (Reuters) – India is not going to want to purchase fertiliser from the spot markets to fulfill native demand in the summertime sown crop season ranging from April, the nation’s fertilisers minister stated on Wednesday.

“There will be no shortages of fertilisers in the kharif season. We have adequate stocks, and our companies have made arrangements in advance,” Mansukh Mandaviya stated at a press convention.

India’s six-month summer season sown crop season begins in April. The nation depends on imports to fulfill a 3rd of its annual home demand of crop vitamins, which is bought at a reduction to farmers. The authorities supplies subsidies to native fertiliser producers on the market of their produce at under market charges.

Asia’s third-largest financial system wants crop vitamins to feed its large agriculture sector, which employs about 60% of the nation’s workforce and accounts for 15% of its almost $3 trillion financial system.

“We may not need to go to the spot market for the Kharif crop. Our stocks and production capacities will be sufficient to meet domestic demand of Urea and NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium),” Mandaviya stated.

The shortfall in availability of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and potash can be met by means of purchases underneath the long run offers, he stated.

Indian firms have signed a slew of long-term offers with international locations resembling Saudi Arabia, Canada, Russia, Oman, Israel and Jordan to safe crop vitamins.

To minimize its large subsidy invoice and push states to encourage farmers to make use of natural manure, India in its Budget proposals for 2023/24 introduced a scheme often known as Pradhan Mantri – Promotion of Alternative Nutritious And Agriculture Management (PM-PRANAM).

Under the scheme, the states that minimize use of chemical-based fertilisers can be given monetary incentives.

“Once the budget proposals are approved by the cabinet, we will take the proposal to the cabinet for implementation,” Mandaviya stated.

Reporting by Nidhi Verma
Editing by Bernadette Baum

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