On Independence Day, fertiliser major IFFCO on Thursday reduced the price of its complex fertilisers, including DAP (di-ammonium phosphate), by Rs 50 per bag as part of efforts to bring down farmers’ input cost.
“On the occasion of 73rd Independence Day, IFFCO has further reduced the rates by Rs 50/bag of its all complex fertilisers for the benefit of farmers and reducing their input agriculture cost,” the IFFCO said on Thursday. On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call to farmers to gradually reduce use of chemical fertilisers and eventually stop their usage to protect soil health. Modi, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, said the mother earth was being destroyed due to excessive use of chemical fertilsers and pesticides.
The price of DAP has been reduced to Rs 1,250 per bag (of 50 kg) from Rs 1,300 earlier. Similarly, the rate of NPK 1 has come down to Rs 1,200 from Rs 1,250 per bag, while NPK 2 rate will now be Rs 1,210 from Rs 1,260 per bag. The rate of NP has been slashed to Rs 950 per bag from Rs 1,000.
NPK stands for “nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium”, the three nutrients that compose complete fertilisers.
IFFCO managing director US Awasthi said the cooperative is continuously working for the growth and benefit of farmers to fulfil the Prime Minister’s goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.
The cooperative provides its services to more than five crore farmers with more than 35,000 cooperative societies across the country.
IFFCO is one of the biggest processed fertiliser cooperatives in the world with a turnover of Rs 27,852 crore in 2018-19 fiscal year.
It has five manufacturing plants and produced 81.49 lakh tonne fertilisers. Besides fertilisers, IFFCO has diversified into sectors like general insurance, rural mobile telephony, oil and gas and international trading, food processing, organics, amongst others.
Farmers in India, who are heavily dependent on monsoon rains for their crops, use about 55 million tonne urea and P&K (phosphatic and potassic) fertilisers every year for higher yields. In addition, there is a rampant use of pesticides to tackle crop damages.