Bhubaneswar: With the prolonged conflict in West Asia, disruptions along the Red Sea shipping route and tightening global fertiliser supplies have pushed international prices of urea and Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) to multi-year highs, creating supply uncertainties across several Indian states during the crucial Kharif season, an urgent letter issued by Odisha Agriculture Department Commissioner-cum-Secretary Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav to all District Collectors is seen as a potential game-changer – not merely for fertiliser management, but for the long-term health of Odisha's soils and fortunes of farmers in more than 20 districts.

Global Fertiliser Shock Reaches India's Farms

India's fertiliser supply chain has come under unprecedented pressure this Kharif season. Continued regional instability in West Asia has disrupted traditional shipping routes, forcing cargo vessels to take longer and costlier detours.

Simultaneously, restrictions on DAP exports from China have further tightened global availability. As a result, international urea prices have surged sharply while DAP prices have also climbed significantly, inflating India's fertiliser subsidy burden and creating localised shortages during the peak sowing season.

Although overall national stocks remain adequate, the availability of conventional fertilisers has become uneven, compelling the Centre to accelerate the use of alternative nutrient-based fertilisers under the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) regime.

Odisha's Emergency Directive: Move Beyond Urea and DAP

Responding to this evolving situation, the Odisha Agriculture Department has directed all District Collectors and Chief District Agriculture Officers to aggressively promote alternatives to conventional fertilisers.

The official communication instructs district administrations to encourage the use of Ammonium Sulphate instead of excessive dependence on urea and balanced Complex NPK/NPKS fertilisers in place of scarce DAP.

Simultaneously, MARKFED has been mandated to lift 60 per cent of fertiliser stocks reaching districts to ensure these alternatives are available through cooperative outlets, preventing hoarding and ensuring timely supplies to farmers.

Extension officials have also been instructed to educate cultivators on revised application practices and nutrient management.

Why the Shift Could Become Windfall for Over 20 Districts

Ironically, what began as a supply crisis could end up correcting decades of nutrient imbalance in Odisha's farmland.

Agricultural scientists have long warned that continuous dependence on urea and DAP has created "hidden hunger" in soils by depleting sulphur and other secondary nutrients. The forced shift addresses precisely this problem.

Ammonium Sulphate contains 20.5% nitrogen and 23% sulphur, supplying two essential nutrients together.

Unlike urea, whose nitrogen is prone to leaching in flooded paddy fields, ammoniacal nitrogen binds more effectively with soil, improving nutrient use efficiency. The built-in sulphur also enhances chlorophyll formation, protein synthesis and grain quality.

The benefits are expected to be particularly significant across sulphur-deficient districts such as Angul, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Boudh, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Dhenkanal, where sulphur deficiency has become widespread after decades of intensive cultivation.

Likewise, districts possessing neutral or alkaline soil pockets – including Bargarh, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Balangir, Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada and Bhadrak – could witness improved micronutrient availability as Ammonium Sulphate gradually lowers soil pH, unlocking iron and zinc that often remain chemically unavailable in alkaline conditions.

The transition from DAP to balanced NPK and NPKS complexes also ensures crops receive nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur together, reversing years of one-dimensional fertilisation that gradually weakened soil productivity. Overall, more than 20 districts stand to gain through improved soil fertility, balanced nutrition and higher nutrient-use efficiency.

The Fertiliser Economics: Why Farmers May Ultimately Stay on Gain Side

At first glance, the economics appear unfavourable.

A subsidised 45-kg urea bag costs around Rs266, whereas a 50-kg bag of Ammonium Sulphate generally costs between Rs700 and Rs1,000 under the Nutrient-Based Subsidy regime. Moreover, because Ammonium Sulphate contains less nitrogen than urea, farmers need larger quantities to supply the same nitrogen requirement.

However, the balance sheet changes when hidden costs are considered.

With conventional fertilisation, farmers often spend separately on sulphur, zinc and other micronutrients.

Ammonium Sulphate eliminates much of that additional expenditure by delivering sulphur within the same bag. Its ammoniacal nitrogen also remains in the root zone longer, reducing nutrient losses through leaching and volatilisation during the monsoon. Balanced NPK complexes similarly reduce nutrient imbalance, improve fertiliser-use efficiency and support better crop quality.

In effect, while upfront expenditure may rise marginally, farmers could recover those costs through lower spending on secondary nutrients, improved nutrient retention, healthier crops and sustained soil productivity over successive seasons.

Bottom Line

Global geopolitical conflicts have undeniably strained India's fertiliser supply chain. But in Odisha, the crisis may produce an unintended agricultural dividend. By compelling a shift away from excessive dependence on urea and DAP towards balanced, multi-nutrient fertilisers, the supply disruption is accelerating a soil restoration process that agronomists have advocated for decades.

Sometimes, the biggest beneficiaries of a geopolitical crisis are not nations or markets – but the soil beneath farmers' feet. For Odisha's ailing farmlands, the global fertiliser shock could become the catalyst for a healthier, more balanced and sustainable agricultural future. 

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