How India brought a urea crisis on itself and why it urgently needs a reset

The supply of India's key fertiliser for farming, the nitrogen-based urea, is at risk due to the ongoing war in the Middle East. The conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran has spiked crude oil prices and has also led to an LPG crunch. The disruption in oil and gas supply is hitting diverse sectors that depend on petrochemical byproducts, including agriculture. Experts are suggesting that the disruption in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply could impact India's urea production. However, the crisis is of its own making, as farmers didn't stick to the advised nitrogen or urea ratio in the NPK fertiliser mix, making the country dependent on imports.

According to scientific standards, an ideal fertiliser mix should be four parts nitrogen (N), two parts phosphorus (P), and one part of potash (P). Nitrogen is the urea component, and a higher quantity of which shows instant results in terms of productivity, but weakens roots and damages long-term soil fertility. Urea is 46% of nitrogen by weight.

In India, a blind pursuit for higher yields has seen farmers using a dangerously high level of urea (nitrogen) in the fertiliser mix. While the ideal NPK ratio is 4:2:1, the average in India is over 9:3:1, according to data from the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

This means farmers in India are using more than 9 kg of nitrogen for every 1 kg of potash in the urea mix. The data from certain states is deeply troublesome. In Nagaland, farmers are using 101 kg of nitrogen for every kilo of potash, according to government data.

"To get higher yields, Indian farmers have accustomed their fields to only nitrogen (urea), marginalising life-giving elements like phosphorus and potash," says Om Prakash, agricultural expert at Kisan Tak, India Today Digital's sister portal. He says that the ruthless use of nitrogen has degraded soil fertility, due to which more and more nitrogen is required for better crop yield.

Agricultural experts have raised concern over LNG supplies and the impact on urea production in the country. They suggest the need to reduce the 9.3 kg use of nitrogen to the standard 4 kg to avoid the crisis. Many believe this could make India less dependent on imports of nitrogen. But this could be easier said than done as the soil have become nitrogen dependent with heavy urea usage over the years.

INDIA BECAME DEPENDENT ON IMPORTED UREA DUE TO OVERUSE

Before the 1960s, fertiliser usage was minimal, with total consumption at just about 0.3 lakh metric tonnes in 1960. Farming largely relied on organic inputs, and traditional seed varieties required very little nitrogen.

But the country, which needed to feed millions and was dependent on food aid, desperately needed to ramp up its staple crop production to become food secure.

The launch of the Green Revolution in the 1960s was the turning point, and it made India food secure in terms of paddy and wheat. High-yielding varieties (HYV) of wheat were developed in Mexico, and later rice was introduced in India. These varieties showed a strong response to nitrogen but required adequate nutrient support to achieve higher yields.

The government promoted a comprehensive package approach that combined HYV seeds with assured irrigation and chemical fertilisers, particularly nitrogen-based inputs like urea. Nitrogen or urea became the preferred choice due to the low cost and ease of application.

The national consumption of urea was recorded at 387 lakh metric tonnes in 2025. This rate of consumption makes urea the highest-used fertiliser in the country.

India produced 306 lakh metric tonnes of urea in 2025, and there was a further need of nearly 81 lakh metric tonnes. To fill this gap, India depends on imports, coming especially from the Middle East countries. A total of $2.3 billion worth of urea was imported in 2025, with 71% of the imports coming from the Middle East.

India imports urea mainly from Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The transit of imports from these countries mainly relies on the Strait of Hormuz, which has been choked by Iran after intense strikes on it by the US and Israel. This chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz by Iran has turned out to be a major reason for the LNG crisis that is leading to a shortage of urea in India.

WHY OVERUSE OF UREA TURNS FARMLANDS BARREN

The major reason for India's dependency on urea is the benefits this nitrogen-rich fertiliser provides to the farmers' yield. Using nitrogen improves the vegetative growth, provides essential proteins, amino acids, and enzymes for the yield. Proper nitrogen application can boost yields by 20–50%, especially in cereals like rice, wheat, maize, and corn.

"Excessive use of urea quickly results in greenery in the fields. This makes the farmer believe that the crop is thriving. However, without phosphorus and potash, the plant's roots weaken, and its resistance to disease decreases. This leads to diseases and pests in the plants," says Rajiv Kumar Singh, Principal Agricultural Scientist of Agronomy.

"When you apply too much urea, the plant draws phosphorus and potash from the soil more rapidly. This leads to a severe deficiency of these elements in the soil, and the land gradually becomes barren," he added.

It is now quite clear that if Indian farmers used the recommended nitrogen of 4:2:1 in their fertiliser mix, India would never have faced a urea crisis. In fact, India could have been an exporter of urea rather than being import-dependent. The country's urea shortage is truly a crisis of its own making. But asking for a reset might be easier said than done because crop yields would be at stake.