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Informist, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025

By Pallavi Singhal and Narayana Krishna

 

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD - With hardly three weeks left for kharif sowing to end, farmers across the country are grappling with shortage of fertilisers, mainly urea. While states have repeatedly appealed to the Centre to intervene, a mix of geopolitical constraints, supply chain bottlenecks, and surging demand has deepened the crisis.

 

The shortfall of fertilisers has been felt most acutely in southern states, particularly those growing paddy such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, where agitations by farmers have intensified. There is a deficit of 1.5 million tonnes to 2.0 million tonnes of urea this kharif season, a senior official with the agriculture ministry said.

 

"We hardly had another 20 days in hand and there is no visible hope that the Centre would provide supplies," a senior official at Telangana's agriculture department told Informist. As of Thursday, the state had just 673,000 tonnes of urea against the allocated 991,000 tonnes. Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy led a delegation to meet Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan this week, pressing for an emergency quota. "We have appealed at least seven times in the last one month, explaining the situation. Farmers are coming on to streets and we are helpless," the official said. "Forget additional supplies, we have not even received the quantity that we have to get as per the allocation till now," official said.

 

On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh, following repeated appeals by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, secured an emergency allocation of 25,000 tonnes this week. The state currently has 80,503 tonnes of urea in stock and expects another 23,000 tonnes in the next 10 days. Karnataka, meanwhile, faces a deficit of 250,000 tonnes that could increase as sowing progresses.

 

RISING ACREAGE PUSHES DEMAND
The demand-supply mismatch has been worsened by an early and abundant monsoon which led to increase in acreage significantly this kharif season. Early onset of the monsoon season on May 24 prompted early sowing of paddy, maize, cotton, and pulses along with key horticultural crops such as onion, tomato, and banana, which added on to the fertiliser demand. By Jun. 29, the monsoon had covered the entire country a day ahead of schedule.

 

The acreage too has risen, with farmers across the country having sown kharif crops over 110.5 million hectares as of Sept. 5, up nearly 2.5% on year, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

 

Moreover, higher acreage under paddy and maize, which have substituted nitrogen fixer crops such as soybean, groundnut, and tur, has raised demand for fertilisers substantially. Maize has seen a 12% rise in acreage this kharif season. "Maize crop has replaced tur sowing in Karnataka, and soybean sowing in Madhya Pradesh. Both tur and soybean need much lesser amount of urea as compared to maize, which needs about 250 kg per hectare," the official with the farm ministry said. Maize this season has been sown across 9.5 million hectares, up from 8.4 million hectares last year.

 

Moreover, heavy rains in several areas have also washed away fertiliser applications, forcing farmers to use more, while hybrid varieties of maize and paddy have raised nutrient requirements. Demand for urea is up 10–11% year-on-year, according to an official with the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. A fall in use of other fertilisers such as NPK, or nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and DAP, or diammonium phosphate, along with poor penetration of nano fertilisers such as Nano urea has added to the woes, the official said.

 

IMPORTS UNDER STRAIN

India's urea stocks fell to 3.7 million tonnes as of Aug. 1, from 8.6 million tonnes a year ago. According to the senior agriculture ministry official, even though the overall demand fell within the estimated range calculated by the ministry ahead of the kharif season, issues with the availability of fertilisers following an export ban by China, significant rise in prices, and supply chain issues in other countries caused the disruption in supply of fertilisers. "We are catering to demand from all states as and when they arise," the official said.

 

China initially imposed a total ban on urea exports in June 2023 to control domestic prices and ensure food security, but began to ease these restrictions in June 2025, allowing limited exports under quotas and price controls. The restrictions on India remained in place for an extended period but were significantly relaxed in August 2025 as diplomatic tensions between the two nations started to improve.

 

In 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), India imported 5.64 million tonnes of urea, mostly from Oman, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and China. As per government estimates, the country's total annual consumption is 35 million tonnes to 36 million tonnes.

Moreover, a global surge in urea prices added to the woes. Global urea prices surged from $400 per tonne in May to $530 per tonne in August, according to trade sources.

 

WHAT NOW?

Government officials expect some relief in the months ahead as supplies from China stabilise and demand moderates during the rabi season, which depends more on DAP and less on urea. An above normal monsoon has filled India's reservoirs, providing adequate water for upcoming crops. Storage in 161 key reservoirs stood at 158.77 billion cubic metres as of Thursday, 2.5% higher than last year and 15?ove the 10-year average.  End

 

US$1 = INR 88.27

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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