Many Indian States report shortage of urea, but 3 reasons cited for the problem

At 3 am on September 22 (Monday), farmers in Rajapalli village in Telangana’s Warangal district rushed to the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society office after being tipped off that a truckload of 440 bags of urea had arrived. 

Similar incidents were reported from some other parts of Telangana, while a few dozen farmers staged a dharna on the national highway at Rebbena mandal headquarters in Asifabad district on Monday, protesting against the non-availability of urea.

 The shortage of urea is not a case only in Telangana. In Maharashtra, farmers across several districts have complained of irregularities in urea sales. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Punjab are among the Indian States which are reporting a shortage of urea. 

Three reasons are cited for the shortage by the industry, growers and States. One, excess use of urea in view of a good South-West monsoon, which farmer associations and activists in the agriculture sector agree with. Two, the geopolitical situation resulting in prices rising, and the third is China’s ban on its exports.

Statement in Lok Sabha

On its part, the Union Agriculture Ministry, after discussing with States and based on their inputs, has pegged the estimated requirement of urea in October at 39.67 lakh tonnes (lt), industry sources said. The Centre has raised the urea demand for October by some 3 lt from 36.65 lt a year ago.

Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Anupriya Patel told the Lok Sabha on August 1 that the Centre cllocated 158.34 lt of urea against a demand of 115.91 lt as of July 28, 2025. Sales at that time were 118.47 lt. 

She said the allocation of fertilizers to private traders, cooperative societies and Markfed is made by the companies as per State government guidelines, which vary from State to State.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu told the State Assembly that farmers’ usage of urea was far higher at 255 kg/ha. His government is providing an incentive of  ₹800 for every bag of urea (50 kg) that is not used. 

Nano urea no solution

“Farmers have planted crops in an additional area of 1.14 lakh acres. The usage of urea has gone up by 25 per cent more this year,” he told the Assembly.

Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said: “As of today, the shortage of this fertilizser stands at two lakh tonnes. The Union government told us that the shortage is due to geopolitical reasons.”  

Karnataka Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy said as per the Centre’s allocation, the State is supposed to receive about 7.2 lt urea for the rabi season. “There was a 2.5 lt shortfall in urea supply during the kharif season”, he said.

“There is no urea available now. Nano urea is not a solution to replace granular urea as far as perennial crops like tea are concerned,” said N Lakshmanan Chettiar, a senior planter from Coonoor. 

“Granular urea ensures production of theanine, a particular enzyme which makes the cup to cheer. In case the granular urea is not available and if nano urea is sprayed on the foliar, it will not percolate to the root zone to make the theanine,” he said. 

No problem in Bengal

“With satisfactory rainfall this year, farmers urgently need urea for kharif crops, but the shortage is hampering growth,” said Baba Sawat, a farmer from Sangli in Maharashtra.

Kerala Agriculture Minister P.Prasad told businessline that the State is facing urea shortage due to its lower availability and extended requirement due to rains.

Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane has raised an alarm over the shortage of urea in the state, warning that the deficit could affect crop growth despite favourable monsoon conditions. 

In a letter to Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister JP Nadda, he said between April and July 2025, the State received only 8.41 lt of urea out of the 10.67 lt allocated. Demand for top-dressing doses for cotton, maize and other crops continues to rise.

Pradip Mazumdar, Minister of Panchayat and Rural Development, told businessline: “We are currently not facing any urea shortage in West Bengal.”  However, the State government has raised the issue of low arrival of a particular fertilizer mix (10:26:26), which is used for potato cultivation in Bengal.

Irregularities

A week ago, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin flagged the shortage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought immediate supply. However, Vettavalam Manikandan, State President of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, alleged irregularities in the distribution of fertilizers in Tamil Nadu. 

“In Telangana and Andhra, the usage is far more than required. Thinking that it will salvage the crop, they are using double the required volumes. This will affect the soil health and pollute water and ecology,” an agri activist said.

In Karnataka, the demand for urea from farmers, who expanded the area under crops such as maize during the kharif season, shot up due to early and widespread monsoon across the State. The shortage of urea has impacted the productivity in the State.

“During the rabi season, we don’t want farmers in the State to face the same situation of shortage that they faced during kharif. We have submitted a memorandum requesting an adequate supply of urea. Almost all states have made the demand,” said Chaluvarayaswamy.

Agriculture scientists say that since major fertiliser input is DAP for rabi crops such as wheat and mustard, and chana (gram) and masur (lentil) do not require much nitrogen, the situation can be managed even if there is some shortfall with the current level of organic carbon in the soil. 

FAO report

“Urea movement should be better managed after doing a district wise soil profile where the higher nitrogen-deficient areas should get priority,” said agriculture scientist A K Singh. 

Chettiar said urea supplies have to be ensured at the earliest so that the planters can take advantage of the soil temperatures to the maximum. “The emergence of La Nina is imminent as per the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Severe winter is expected from November to January. There is no point in applying fertilisers at that time as there will be no activity in the soil due to the cold temperatures,” he said, adding that urea from China may not meet the country’s quality standards.

Industry experts said that the government is hopeful of meeting the October demand, banking on the lower level of actual sales during October 2024. Then, 23.23 lt of urea were sold to farmers as sales were lower due to short supplies.

Patel said the requirement of urea was 359.19 lt, 356.08 lt, and 364.01 lt during 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, respectively. India imported 75.80 lt and 70.42 lt of urea during 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. Imports were 51.69 lt till February in the 2024-25 fiscal.

The Agriculture Market Information System of FAO said in its market monitor that nitrogen fertilizer prices climbed in August, especially with strong demand from India during “what is usually a quiet season”.    

(With inputs from KV Kurmanath, Hyderabad, Vishwanath Kulkarni, Bengaluru, Prabhudatta Mishra, New Delhi; V Sajeev Kumar, Kochi; AJ Vinayak, Mangaluru; Radheshyam Jadhav, Pune, and Subramani Ra Mancombu, Chennai)

Published on September 24, 2025