Centre is not Providing Enough Fertilizers, says Chhattisgarh Minister

The Union government's claim that it had supplied 4.36 lakh metric tonnes of chemical fertilizers to Chhattisgarh was false and misleading, according to state Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey, who said on Saturday that the Centre had only provided 2.12 lakh MT between October last year and February for the Rabi season.

The 2,12.162 MT provided represented only 52% of the Centre's supply plan for the state, he added. The Centre announced on Friday that it had supplied 4.36 lakh MT of fertilizer to the state, compared to a requirement of 3.61 MT.

"Chhattisgarh requested 7.50 lakh metric tonnes of chemical fertilizers for the Rabi season of 2021-22, but the Centre approved only 4.11 lakh MT or 55% of the total requirement. This includes 2 lakh metric tonnes of urea, 60,000 metric tonnes of DAP, 50,000 metric tonnes of NPK, 26,000 metric tonnes of MOP, and 75,000 metric tonnes of SSP "he stated.

"The Centre has announced a plan to supply 3.46 lakh MT of this 4.11 lakh MT between October and February. However, only 2.12 lakh MT, or 52% of the approved quantity, has been delivered thus far "He continued.

He stated that the total amount of remaining chemical fertilizers in the state as of October 1, 2021, plus the new supply from the Centre, is 3.69 lakh MT, which is less than the 4.36 lakh MT claimed by the Union government.

Need of Nitrogen-Containing Fertilizers

Nitrogen is a nutrient that all living things (microorganisms, plants, and animals) require in order to grow. Despite the fact that there is a lot of nitrogen all around us (78 percent of the air we breathe), the majority of nitrogen on Earth exists as a colourless and odourless gas known as nitrogen gas (N2).

Plants and animals, unfortunately, are unable to directly utilize nitrogen gas. We get our nitrogen from the food we eat as humans. Nitrogen is abundant in high protein foods such as meat, fish, nuts, and beans.

Plants obtain nitrogen from the soil, and nitrogen is the most commonly used nutrient to restrict plant growth. There are two natural processes by which nitrogen gas is transformed or "fixed" into nitrogen-containing compounds that can end up in soil.