Selvaraj, K.N Burigi, S. and Parimalarangan, R.
Balanced use of nutrients and productivity enhancement are key for higher farm income under declining fertilizer use efficiency - Agricultural Situation in India - 78(12), Mar, 2022: p.10-19
In the recent years, unfavourable side effects of Green Revolution are slowly being experienced and alleviating the physical and chemical constraints in soils assumes prime concern in agriculture. Deteriorating soil quality has led to decline in incremental crop responses to farm inputs, thus reducing the profitability. Though price supports have been the principal means by which Indian farmers have received some protection against market risks, increase in prices of purchased farm inputs is affecting the farm income. The paper investigates empirically that prices of output and input are increasing, while the productivity is either stagnant or marginally increasing and not compensating the increase in cost of inputs, thus resulting in low output-input ratio. Empirical results of the paper reveal that the over and unbalanced use of fertilizers in the assured areas of irrigation has led to declining output/input ratio. Increase in fertilizer prices and decline in marginal productivity of fertilizers together added to the increased cost of production. The situation of farmers has got aggravated with the prices for their produce not matching with that of other commodities, especially the farm inputs. The estimated growth rate of partial factor productivity and agronomic use efficiency of fertilizer clearly indicate the inefficiency in fertilizer use leading to decline in farm profitability. Optimization of inputs use is the key to lower cost of production and realize higher productivity. Soil Health Card played a vital role in restoration of soil health and benefitted the farmers in realizing better yield and return through nutrient optimization. Among the various measures, effective use of soil health cards by the farmers is critically important to double their farm income. – Reproduced
Fertilizer use efficiency, Agronomic fertilizer use efficiency, Partial factor productivity.
Balanced use of nutrients and productivity enhancement are key for higher farm income under declining fertilizer use efficiency - Agricultural Situation in India - 78(12), Mar, 2022: p.10-19
In the recent years, unfavourable side effects of Green Revolution are slowly being experienced and alleviating the physical and chemical constraints in soils assumes prime concern in agriculture. Deteriorating soil quality has led to decline in incremental crop responses to farm inputs, thus reducing the profitability. Though price supports have been the principal means by which Indian farmers have received some protection against market risks, increase in prices of purchased farm inputs is affecting the farm income. The paper investigates empirically that prices of output and input are increasing, while the productivity is either stagnant or marginally increasing and not compensating the increase in cost of inputs, thus resulting in low output-input ratio. Empirical results of the paper reveal that the over and unbalanced use of fertilizers in the assured areas of irrigation has led to declining output/input ratio. Increase in fertilizer prices and decline in marginal productivity of fertilizers together added to the increased cost of production. The situation of farmers has got aggravated with the prices for their produce not matching with that of other commodities, especially the farm inputs. The estimated growth rate of partial factor productivity and agronomic use efficiency of fertilizer clearly indicate the inefficiency in fertilizer use leading to decline in farm profitability. Optimization of inputs use is the key to lower cost of production and realize higher productivity. Soil Health Card played a vital role in restoration of soil health and benefitted the farmers in realizing better yield and return through nutrient optimization. Among the various measures, effective use of soil health cards by the farmers is critically important to double their farm income. – Reproduced
Fertilizer use efficiency, Agronomic fertilizer use efficiency, Partial factor productivity.