Urea crisis in Telangana due to deliberate neglect, says CIFA advisor Chengal Reddy

CIFA advisor P Chengal Reddy blamed the union government for the urea shortage affecting Telangana’s Kharif farmers. He said poor planning, lapses in coordination and reliance on urea have hit productivity, urging India to adopt biotech farming practices like other countries

Hyderabad: Attributing the escalating urea shortage crippling Telangana’s Kharif farmers to lack of planning, P Chengal Reddy, Chief Advisor of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA), blamed the union government for the fertiliser crisis that has had a demoralising effect on farmers.

Talking to Telangana Today, Reddy warned that the supply shortfall, despite ample national allocations, could severely impact agricultural productivity and farmer morale. “Farmers have been pushed to the brink with indiscriminate urea use, and this crisis is its culmination,” Reddy said. He highlighted that despite heavy reliance on chemical fertilisers like urea, India’s agricultural sector has shown no substantial progress in productivity compared to the global situation.

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“Our dependence on chemical fertilisers has not improved yields or productivity like in countries such as the United States, Brazil and China, where biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) crops have revolutionised farming,” he added.

Reddy said lapses in coordination with the Centre were to blame, despite national availability exceeding demand (183 lakh metric tonnes supplied against 143 lakh required). Disruptions at the Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (RFCL) plant, which halted production for 78 days due to technical issues, and global supply chain delays from China’s export restrictions have compounded the problem.

“For reasons best known to it, supplies are not meeting demand. The end to this crisis lies only in the government’s hands,” he asserted.

Drawing parallels to global successes, Reddy advocated for new farm practices to boost yields, similar to those in the US, Brazil and China. These nations, top producers of soybeans, corn and cotton, have taken advantage of biotech innovations like Bt (pest-resistant) and herbicide-tolerant GM crops to enhance productivity, cut pesticide use and improve farmer incomes, contributing to global food security.

In India, however, excessive urea use has led to stagnant productivity, with agriculture lagging behind key sectors.

Reddy pointed to the cotton sector as a stark example of policy failures. India exported over 70 lakh bales annually in the past but is now forced to import record volumes this year, projected at 3 million bales for 2024-25, due to a 10 per cent production drop to 29.53 million bales from declining acreage and pest attacks like pink bollworm. Imports surged 107 per cent to USD 1.2 billion in FY 2024-25, mainly from the US, Brazil and Australia, as domestic yields fell to 447 kg per hectare, far below China’s 1,993 kg per hectare.

“Biotechnology, especially GM crops, has been a game-changer abroad. It is high time India adopts such practices to achieve better yields and prices,” he urged.

Calling on farmers to think intelligently, Reddy suggested coordinated efforts to cut production scales to realise better prices and explore alternatives like nano urea, which IFFCO promotes for sustainability. He praised former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for unmatched irrigation initiatives, including Kaleshwaram—the world’s largest multi-stage lift irrigation project—Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and others that doubled Telangana’s net irrigated area since 2014, turning it into a rice bowl despite heavy rains boosting groundwater.