HYDERABAD

The State Government has requested the Centre (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) to rationalise the prices of DAP, complex and urea fertilizers, as variation in prices has been pushing the farmers to go for urea, supplied with subsidy, irrespective of its utility.

At a meeting held here on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said that the indiscriminate use of urea available at lesser price compared to other fertilizers was not only affecting the soil fertility but affecting the quality of the produce, as also the demand for the produce in the overseas markets.

The minister explained that use of urea in Telangana had increased multifold in recent years and its consumption for application on soils/crops had increased to 20.7 lakh tonnes in 2025-26 from 14 lakh tonnes in 2015-16. Supply of urea on subsidy was making farmers use it widely and the average composition of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in Telangana soils was 12.6:4.8:1 against the recommended proportion of 4:2:1, the minister said.

He stated that a 45 kg urea bag was available in the price band of ₹240 to ₹266, that of a 50 kg DAP bag at ₹1,350 and 19:19:19 complex fertilizer bag at ₹1,750. Due to such huge variation in prices, the farmers were using urea and DAP widely without caring for the soil nutrients’ balance.

The farming community was using higher dose of phosphorus and nitrogen compare to recommended dosage for paddy, higher dose of nitrogen (urea) for maize and cotton. The imbalance in fertilizer use was resulting in deficiency of micro nutrients such as zinc, boron leading to pests and diseases.

Published – August 25, 2026 09:21 pm IST