Govt to take fertiliser price hit for farmers: PM Modi | India News – Times of India

GANDHINAGAR: The Centre will take the hit from already high fertiliser prices skyrocketing under the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war so that farmers across the country don’t suffer, PM Narendra Modi said on Saturday.
“We are having to scout for fertilisers across the world. Difficulties are there. Our government has taken a decision that we will bear these losses. Despite all these difficulties, the government has not allowed a fertiliser crisis to take shape,” the PM said at a seminar in Gandhinagar, attended by leaders of the cooperative sector from across Gujarat.
Modi also unveiled the world’s first nano urea (liquid) plant commissioner, built by IFFCO at Kalol in Gandhinagar. The plant will produce 1.5 lakh bottles (500 ml each) a day, thereby reducing dependence on import of urea.
The PM said a bag of urea costing Rs 3,500 was being made available to farmers for Rs 300, with the government bearing the rest. The government gave subsidies amounting to Rs 1.6 lakh crore in 2021-22 and the figure would exceed Rs 2 lakh crore in the current fiscal, he said, promising to do whatever it takes for the Centre to cushion farmers from the blow of spiralling fertiliser prices.
“A huge chunk of our fertiliser requirement, about one-fourth, has been imported for decades. In the past two years, prices of fertilisers have shot up sharply in the international market because of the pandemic. If that weren’t enough, the war broke out and this has squeezed the supply of fertilizers and led to a further spike in prices,” the PM said.
India is the second largest consumer of urea in the world, but only the third largest producer. “After the formation of the government in 2014, the work of restarting five closed fertilizer factories in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Telangana was initiated. Two factories have begun production and the other three will start production soon,” Modi said.