Austerity as an export aid: using less chemical fertilizer could ease access to the EU market

The remaining nitrogen is either released into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide—a greenhouse gas that’s 273 times more potent than carbon dioxide—or leaches into water systems, leading to water pollution.

An ongoing survey by Icrier found that deteriorating soil health is a high risk for our exports to the EU, which is striving to reduce GHG emissions and promote sustainable agriculture. Through its Green Deal and allied directives, the EU has targets and standards designed to lower the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, while improving soil health.

In India too, policymakers and farm experts have emphasized that soil health holds the key to sustainable farming, higher productivity, output quality and access to export markets.

The Icrier survey also found that coffee planters who implemented EU requirements got higher than average yields. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to farmers to reduce their use of chemical fertilizers by 25-50% to move towards sustainable production without reducing productivity.

Soil health and high usage of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides are interlinked. Poor soil health weakens crop resilience and reduces nutrient-use efficiency, which often drives farmers to use higher quantities of fertilizers to maintain productivity.

However, nutrient-stressed crops are also more vulnerable to pests and diseases, resulting in greater dependence on pesticides and insecticides and raising the risk of export rejections due to breaches of maximum residue limit norms in export markets like the EU.

The National Institute for Research on Commercial Agriculture (NIRCA) found that soil used for tobacco cultivation had nitrogen levels of around 120kg per hectare and an SOC level of just 0.2-0.3%; it also found that crops absorbed only 40% of the applied nitrogen in certain regions of Andhra Pradesh. Our rice exports are frequently rejected by the EU, and one reason is the poor quality of soil in the country’s basmati producing regions.

The proportion of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) nutrients used in fertilizers, or the N: P: K ratio, was relatively balanced at 4.3: 2: 1 (optimal being 4: 2: 1) in 2009-10. It deteriorated to about 8.2: 3: 2 by 2012-13 and further to 10.9: 4.4: 1 by 2024-25. Nitrogen’s rise is alarming.

Phosphorus sufficiency (greater than 25kg per hectare), although still relatively low, has improved from 23.1% in the first SHC cycle to 36% in 2025–26. Potassium sufficiency (greater than 280kg per hectare) declined from 56.9% to nearly 30%. Micronutrient deficiencies pose another challenge.

In 2025-26, boron deficiency (less than 0.5 parts per million) was recorded in 41% of the samples, zinc deficiency (less than 0.6ppm) in 37%, sulphur deficiency (less than 10ppm) in 27% and iron deficiency (less than 4.5ppm) in 27%.

Is fertilizer the main culprit of adverse soil health? India is the world’s second-largest user of fertilizer after China. We are one of the few countries that continues to subsidize chemical fertilizers (heavily skewed towards nitrogen) at the cost of organic or nano fertilizers. This imposes a substantial fiscal burden on the exchequer—nearly ₹2 trillion in 2025-26.

Research organisations like NIRCA have set a fertilizer use reduction target of 20%. But low prices encourage usage. If chemical fertilizers are cheap, farmers will use them.

If this trend continues, our exports will face rejection in the EU and what was touted as the “mother of all deals” with India would prove insufficient to sustain our exports to the region. Improving soil health requires a shift from input-intensive farming to balanced nutrient management.

What should be done to improve soil health for sustainable exports? India needs to work on (i) promoting balanced NPK application, (ii) reducing dependence on nitrogen-based fertilizers, (iii) improving access to affordable bio-fertilizers, micronutrients and quality organic inputs for small farmers and (iv) ensuring that farmers follow the crop-specific fertilizer and nutrient recommendations printed on SHCs, apart from (v) capacity building and training of farmers on soil and nutrient management practices, and (vi) assessing the investment required for shifting towards greener production systems.

It would also help if big European importers invest in sustainable supply chains that support small-scale farmers in supplier countries by giving them access to quality inputs, training and finance.

The authors are, respectively, professor, and former research assistant, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.