Farm Inputs: Seeds, Fertilisers, Mechanisation and Technology

Why inputs matter

The yield gap: yields of most Indian crops are well below global and potential levels. India's rice yield is about 2.8–3 t/ha of milled rice, compared with about 4.7 t/ha in China. The gap reflects the quality and use of inputs:

• seeds;
• water;
• nutrients;
• plant protection;
• machinery;
• knowledge.

The Green Revolution (from the mid-1960s), associated with M.S. Swaminathan and Norman Borlaug, combined high-yielding varieties (HYV) of wheat and rice with irrigation, chemical fertilisers, credit, MSP and procurement. It made India self-sufficient in food grains.

Its limits:

• confined to wheat and rice in irrigated north-west India;
• regional and inter-personal inequality;
• ecological costs: soil, water and chemical use.

Seeds

Why seeds matter: quality seed alone can raise yields by 15–20%.

The seed replacement rate (SRR), the share of area sown with certified or quality seed rather than farm-saved seed, is low for many crops, especially pulses and oilseeds.

Institutions:

• ICAR, together with state agricultural universities, breeds varieties;
• the National Seeds Corporation;
• the private sector, which dominates hybrid seeds such as cotton, maize and vegetables.

Laws:

• the Seeds Act 1966, under which labelled seed must meet standards; a new Seeds Bill has been pending for years;
• the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 (PPVFR), which follows the UPOV-style *sui generis* option under TRIPS. India's law uniquely gives farmers' rights to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed (but not branded seed). The PepsiCo potato case (2019), in which the company sued Gujarat farmers, highlighted these rights. The PPVFR Authority revoked PepsiCo's registration in 2021, a decision upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2024.

New technologies:

• genome-edited crops: India exempted SDN-1 and SDN-2 genome editing (without foreign DNA) from GM rules in 2022. In May 2025, ICAR released the world's first genome-edited rice varieties (DRR Dhan 100 "Kamala" and Pusa DST Rice 1);
• GM crops remain restricted to Bt cotton;
• biofortified varieties (zinc wheat, iron pearl millet) for nutrition.

Fertilisers

Scale: India is the second-largest consumer of fertilisers. It imports most of its potash (all of it), a large share of phosphate (DAP) and the raw materials, and part of its urea.

Nutrient imbalance: the ideal N:P:K ratio is about 4:2:1. India's ratio has been far more skewed towards nitrogen, worse than 7:2.8:1 in some years. The cause is that urea is heavily subsidised and its price is controlled, while P and K prices were decontrolled.

Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme (2010): a fixed subsidy per kg of nutrient for P and K fertilisers, with retail prices left to companies. Urea stayed outside NBS, with a fixed MRP.

Fertiliser subsidy: about ₹1.7–2.5 lakh crore a year in recent budgets; it rose sharply in 2022–23 when global prices spiked.

Reforms:

• neem-coated urea (100% since 2015) to reduce diversion to industry and slow nitrogen release;
• the New Urea Policy 2015 and the revival of closed plants (Gorakhpur, Ramagundam, Sindri, Barauni);
• Nano urea and nano DAP (developed by IFFCO, 2021–23); their field effectiveness has been debated by some agronomists;
• the "One Nation One Fertiliser" brand ("Bharat", 2022);
• PM-PRANAM (2023): incentives for states to reduce chemical fertiliser use;
• DBT in fertilisers: subsidy paid to companies on point-of-sale sales to farmers.

Soil health: the Soil Health Card Scheme (2015) tests 12 parameters and gives crop-wise fertiliser recommendations. Over 24 crore cards have been issued, though farmers' use of the recommendations has been mixed.

Plant protection and pesticides

Use: India's per hectare pesticide use is low by global standards, but misuse, residues and farmer poisoning (the Yavatmal deaths of 2017) are concerns.

Regulation:

• the Insecticides Act 1968, administered by the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee;
• the Pesticide Management Bill (2020), which is still pending.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) combines biological, cultural and chemical controls.

Mechanisation

Level: India's farm mechanisation is about 47%, compared with 75–90% in the US, Brazil and China. Tractor use is high, but harvesting and planting machinery is much less used.

Constraints: small holdings and costs.

Solutions:

• Custom Hiring Centres, where farmers rent machinery;
• the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM, 2014);
• farm machinery banks;
• crop residue management machinery (the Happy Seeder and Super Seeder) to reduce stubble burning;
• drones: the Namo Drone Didi scheme (2023) gives drones to 15,000 women SHGs to rent out for spraying fertilisers and pesticides.

Agricultural research and extension

Research: ICAR (1929, as the Imperial Council) and about 75 state agricultural universities. Public spending on agricultural R&D is only about 0.4–0.5% of agricultural GDP, below the 1% benchmark.

Extension:

• Krishi Vigyan Kendras (about 730);
• ATMA (Agricultural Technology Management Agency);
• Kisan Call Centres.

Digital agriculture:

• the Digital Agriculture Mission (September 2024, ₹2,817 crore) builds AgriStack: a farmers' registry with Farmer IDs, a crop sown registry, and geo-referenced village maps;
• the Krishi Decision Support System;
• the Kisan e-Mitra AI chatbot.

Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan (2025): a campaign by scientists to reach farmers in villages.

Analysis: towards sustainable intensification

The challenge: India must raise yields while reducing input intensity and environmental damage.

Approaches:

• precision agriculture: soil-test-based nutrients, drip fertigation and drones;
• balanced fertilisation: bringing urea under NBS-type pricing with DBT to farmers, as recommended by economists, though it is politically sensitive;
• natural and organic farming: the National Mission on Natural Farming (2024) covers 1 crore farmers. Sri Lanka's abrupt fertiliser ban in 2021, which caused a crop collapse, warns against sudden shifts;
• more public research spending and stronger extension.

Common prelims traps

• India's PPVFR Act protects farmers' rights (save, use, exchange, sell unbranded seed).
• Urea is outside the NBS scheme.
• The ideal NPK ratio is 4:2:1.
• SDN-1/SDN-2 genome editing is exempt from GM regulation; SDN-3 is not.

Practice: Mains question

*"Fertiliser subsidies in India have distorted nutrient use and damaged soil health." Discuss, and suggest reforms. (250 words)*

Organic and natural farming in practice

Programmes: the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY, 2015) promotes organic clusters, and MOVCDC supports organic value chains in the North-East.

Sikkim became the world's first fully organic state in 2016.

Andhra Pradesh's Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) is one of the largest agro-ecology programmes in the world.

Benefits: lower input costs and improved soil health.

The debate: natural farming may lower yields in the short run, so a gradual, evidence-based transition and price premia through certification (the PGS-India participatory guarantee system) matter.

Quick self-test

1. *Why does urea dominate fertiliser use?* Its price is controlled and heavily subsidised, unlike P and K.
2. *What are farmers' rights under the PPVFR Act?* To save, use, sow, exchange and sell farm-saved seed, other than branded seed.

Key term

Seed replacement rate: the percentage of area sown with certified or quality seed rather than farm-saved seed in a season.