India’s agricultural sector is confronting a difficult reckoning as the country’s heavy dependence on urea — subsidised by the government at below-market rates — clashes with tightening global fertilizer supplies. Indian farmers currently consume more urea than the United States and Brazil combined.
The massive consumption is driven largely by government policies that keep urea prices artificially low, encouraging over-application that has degraded soil health across vast swathes of farmland. Years of excessive use have also created an entrenched dependency that is now proving difficult to unwind.
With global supply chains under strain from geopolitical conflicts and rising input costs, policymakers are being forced to revisit the subsidy framework that has underpinned Indian agriculture for decades. Any reform will need to balance fiscal prudence, food security, and the livelihoods of millions of farming families.
