Fertiliser overuse: Wheat yield, soil fertility decrease in Punjab

Fertiliser overuse: Wheat yield, soil fertility decrease in Punjab

Chandigarh: In a major concern for Punjab farmers, soil fertility continues to be declining in the state, apparently owing to the excessive use of the chemical fertilisers. Over the past five years, Punjab’s wheat production has already declined from 178 lakh metric in 2017-18 to 149 lakh metric tonnes in 2021-22. Additionally, per acre wheat productivity has also declined from 5,077 kg per hectare in 2017-18 to 4,216 kg per hectare in 2021-22.

The Centre — while releasing this data — said there had been a decline of 16 per cent in production of wheat and 17 per cent in per acre wheat with increasing use of chemical fertilisers in Punjab.

From 36.06 lakh metric tonnes in 2017-18, the consumption of fertilisers by Punjab farmers — with nearly 10 per cent — increased to 39.47 per cent in 2021-22.

The government said this showed that the production and productivity had already reached a plateau and increased fertiliser consumption had no impact or rather had a negative impact on production and productivity of wheat. Punjab has the highest per hectare consumption of ‘chemical fertilisers’ in the country. The consumption of fertilisers by nutrients — nitrogen, phosphate and potash — was 253.94 kg per hectare in the state for 2021-22.

Agriculture experts opined that the overuse of chemical fertilisers had brought organic component in the soil to almost ‘zero’.

Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya said, “Punjab is one of the states where production and productivity of wheat declined despite the higher use of chemical fertilisers. Therefore, we should save the soil by reducing the use of chemical fertilisers. It is high time that we should focus on soil health, which has deteriorated over the past few years.”