2. A vailability of Chemical Fertilisers

The natural fertility of the soil decreases with the passage of time. In a region like the Great Plains of India, in which agriculture is being carried out for the last five thousand years, the soils arc generally depleted and are increasingly losing their resilient characteristics. For the recuperation of fertility, the soils need to be rested in the form of fallowing or they have to be enriched by applying manures (cowdung, compost, and green) and chemical fertilisers.

The High Yielding Varieties give rise to short stemmed, stiff-straw plants that respond well to heavy doses of fertilisers. These dwarf varieties are known as the hungry varieties which need more energy in the form of chemical fertilisers. Contrary to this, the traditional varieties, if given heavy doses of fertilisers, get lodged at the occurrence of rains. The lodging of the crop reduces the yield per unit area.

In the areas of controlled irrigation, the recommended dose of chemical fertiliser for the new seeds of wheat and rice in terms of NPKis 90-45-45 kg. per hectare. Some of the well off farmers of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh are applying the chemical fertilisers to the crop in the prescribed quantity. The all India average fertilizer consumption is 129 kg per hectare per annum in 2009-2010. India is the third largest producer of fertilizer after China and USA and the second largest consumer after China in the world. All India fertilizer consumption in 2010-11 was about 140 kg/ha of NPK nutrients. There is a wide variation in consumption of fertilizer from state to state. It is about 238 kg/ha in Punjab, 225 kg/ha in Andhra Pradesh, 2010 kg/ha in Haryana and 205 Kg/ha in Tamil Nadu. The lowest consumption is in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland with 5 kg/ha (2010-11).