Cabinet Approves Nutrient-based Subsidy for Kharif Season 2023

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What is Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme?
• About Fertilizers
• Macro & Micro Elements in Fertilizers
• About Fertilizer Subsidy
• How is the Subsidy Paid & Who gets it?
• About Kharif Season & Crops
• About Rabi Season & Crops
• News Summary

 

Why in News?

• The Central government approved Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Potash (K) and Sulphur (S) for the 2023 Kharif Season.
• The Cabinet also approved revision of the NBS rates for Rabi Season 2022-23 (January-March, 2023).

 

What is Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme?

• Nutrient Based Subsidy Programme for fertilizers was initiated in 2010 by the Union Government.
• Under the scheme, a fixed rate of subsidy (in Rs per kg basis) is announced for nutrients namely Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P), Potash (K) and Sulphur (S) by the government on an annual basis.
• It aims at ensuring –
  • Balanced use of fertilizers,
  • Improving agricultural productivity,
  • Promoting the growth of the indigenous fertilizers industry and
  • Reducing the burden of Subsidy.

 

About Fertilizers

• A fertilizer is a chemical product either mined or manufactured material containing one or more essential plant nutrients that are immediately or potentially available in sufficiently good amounts.
• Fertilizers have played an essential role in agricultural production, providing vital nutrients for crops, increasing demands over the years.
• As an agrarian country, India is home to numerous small and marginal farmers and is often plagued by low productivity and low quality.
• Crops are mainly rain-fed and cultivated on a single piece of land over time, decreasing soil fertility in many regions.
• Thereby, increasing quantities of nitrogen fertilizers have been used in the country.

 

Macro & Micro Elements in Fertilizers

• Macro Nutrients: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potash (K), Calcium, Sulfur (S), and Magnesium are known as macro-nutrients (required in comparatively larger amounts).
• Micro Nutrients: Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Copper, Boron, Manganese Molybdenum, Chloride, and others are the micro-nutrients (required in a smaller quantity) for the growth and development of crop plants.
• Among the various types, NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertilizers are the most common ones, and Urea stands as the most highly consumed fertilizer in India.
• India is the second-largest consumer of fertilizers globally, with an annual consumption of more than 55.0 million metric ton.

 

 

About Fertilizer Subsidy

• Farmers buy fertilisers at MRPs (maximum retail price) below their normal supply-and-demand-based market rates or what it costs to produce/import them.
• The MRP of neem-coated urea, for instance, is fixed by the government at Rs 5,922.22 per tonne, whereas its average cost-plus price payable to domestic manufacturers and importers comes to around Rs 17,000 and Rs 23,000 per tonne, respectively.
• The difference, which varies according to plant-wise production cost and import price, is footed by the Centre as subsidy.
• The MRPs of non-urea fertilisers are decontrolled or fixed by the companies. However, the Centre pays a flat per-tonne subsidy on these nutrients to ensure reasonable prices.

     

How is the Subsidy Paid & Who gets it?

• The subsidy goes to fertiliser companies, although its ultimate beneficiary is the farmer who pays MRPs less than the market-determined rates.
• Under the Direct-Benefit Transfer (DBT) system, subsidy payment to the companies would happen only after actual sales to farmers by retailers.
• Each retailer now has a point-of-sale (PoS) machine linked to the Department of Fertilisers’ e-Urvarak DBT portal.
• Anybody buying subsidised fertilisers is required to furnish his/her Aadhaar unique identity or Kisan Credit Card number.
• Only upon the sale getting registered on the e-Urvarak platform can a company claim subsidy.

 

About Kharif Season & Crops

• The crops that are sown in the rainy season are called Kharif crops and it is also known as the summer or monsoon crop in India.
• Kharif crops are usually sown with the beginning of the first rains in July, during the south-west monsoon season.
• The sowing time may vary in the different states of India as it depends on the arrival of monsoon.
  • For example, in southern states like Kerala, the seeds are usually sown towards the end of May and in northern states like Punjab, Haryana the seeds are sown in the month of June.
• These crops are dependent on the quantity of rainwater as well as its timing.
• Harvesting takes place in the months of September or October.
• Cereal crops –
  • Rice, Bajra, Jowar, Maize (corn), Millet and Soyabean
• Fruit crops –
  • Muskmelon, Sugarcane, Watermelon, Orange
• Seed/Grain crops –
  • Arhar (tur), Black gram (urad), Cotton, Cowpea, Green gram (moong), Groundnut, Guar, Moth bean, Mung bean, Sesame, Urad bean
• Vegetable crops –
  • Bitter gourd (karela), Bottle gourd, Brinjal, Chilli, Ladyfingers, Sponge Gourd, Tinda, Tomato, Turmeric, French beans

 

About Rabi Season & Crops

• The crops that are sown in the winter season are called Rabi crops and it is also known as the winter crop in India and Pakistan.
• Rabi crops are usually sown in October or November.
• Rabi crops are cultivated in the dry season so timely irrigation is required to grow these crops.
• Harvesting takes place in the months of March or April.
• Cereal crops –
  • Barley, Gram, Rapeseed, Mustard, Oat, Wheat and Bajra
• Fruit crops –
  • Almond, Banana, Ber, Dates, Grapes, Guava, Kinnow, Lemon/Citrus, Mangoes, Mulberries, Orange
• Legumes/lentils (dal) crops –
  • Chickpea, Lobias, Masoor, Mung bean, Pigeon pea, Toria, Uradbean
• Seed/grain crops –
  • Alfalfa, Coriander, Cumin, Fenugreek, Linseed mustard, Isabgol, Sunflower, Bengal gram, Red gram

  

News Summary

• The Union government has approved a subsidy of Rs 38,000 crore for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers for the kharif 2023 season (April-September) under the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) mechanism.
  • The subsidy rates for the two fertilisers, which are mostly imported, have been fixed after taking into consideration the fall in international prices.
  • The subsidy on P&K for the current kharif season is much lower than about Rs 61,000 spent during last kharif season.
• Along with this, the government will spend another Rs 70,000 crore on subsidy for urea which is the most commonly used fertiliser.
• In total, the government will spend Rs 1.08 trillion towards fertiliser subsidy in the summer season.
  • In India, cultivation takes place on 1,400 lakh hectares of land across the country.
  • The fertilizer subsidy for one hectare is about Rs 8,909 subsidy.
  • For the 12 crore farmers in the country, each farmer gets Rs 21,223 as a subsidy for fertilizers.
• Impact of this Approval –
  • The government’s decision will have a positive impact of ensuring availability of P&K and other fertilizers to farmers at subsidized, affordable and reasonable prices during Kharif season.
  • This will also ensure rationalization of subsidy on P&K fertilizers.

 

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Q1) How nitrogen fixation occurs in plants?

Nitrogen is fixed, or combined, in nature as nitric oxide by lightning and ultraviolet rays, but more significant amounts of nitrogen are fixed as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates by soil microorganisms. More than 90 percent of all nitrogen fixation is affected by them.

 

Q2) Which is the power house of plants?

Chloroplasts are the power houses of plants. They are the site of photosynthesis, the process that uses sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce the energy that powers life on Earth. The protein PRXQ seems to bridge two systems that keep chloroplasts, and by extension, plants, healthy.

 

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Source: Nutrient Based Subsidy for kharif 2023 gets Cabinet nod | Financial Express