In a major achievement, the Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department reduced the consumption of subsidised agriculture grade urea in Yamunanagar district by 22.06 per cent. The department has taken a number of steps including promoting sustainable and balanced fertiliser use among farmers and preventing misuse of subsidised urea for industrial purposes to achieve the target. According to Aditya Partap Dabas, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Yamunanagar, who led the initiative, the reduction in urea consumption has led to savings worth Rs 123 crore in government subsidies for the district during FY 2025-26. Dabas said the department would continue to make efforts to maintain the reduction in consumption so money spent by the government for subsidies could be saved.
- How many metric tonnes of urea were saved?
According to Point of Sale (POS) machine data gathered by the Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department from whole-sellers and retailers of fertilisers and primary agriculture cooperative credit societies, the total consumption of subsidised agriculture grade urea in the district has decreased from 152725.068 MT in 2024–25 to 125114.692 MT in 2025–26, accounting for a reduction of 27,610.376 MT (22.06%).
- How did reduced consumption help the government’s finances?
Aditya Partap Dabas said that each 45-kg bag of subsidised urea carried an average government subsidy worth Rs 2000. As per his calculations, due to the reduction of about 6.136 lakh bags, the district has managed to save about Rs 123 crore in subsidy expenditure within a single financial year.
n What steps were taken to reduce urea consumption?
The department implemented several measures at the grassroots level. These steps included micro-level planning and field interventions, village-wise fertiliser planning based on crop requirements, farmer-wise monitoring and targeted counseling, field demonstrations on balanced fertilisation, soil health card-based advisories, real-time monitoring of fertiliser sales through POS and inter-departmental coordination and awareness campaigns for judicious fertiliser use.
- What role did the MFMB portal play in the initiative?
The Meri Fasal Mera Byora (MFMB) portal played a crucial role in the initiative after being linked to the POS fertiliser sale system. Officials said that mandatory farmer authentication ensured sale of urea only to genuine farmers, while aadhaar and land-based verification restricted bulk and unauthorised purchases. Real-time data helped identify abnormal lifting patterns and also helped in ensuring targeted delivery and reduced diversion of subsidised fertilisers.
- What action was taken against those who violated norms?
The Agriculture Department adopted strong enforcement measures to stop diversion of subsidised urea for industrial purposes. As many as 14 FIRs were registered under the relevant legal provisions for such use. Besides, 6,845 bags of subsidised urea were seized during enforcement drives and 30 fertiliser licences were cancelled for violations.
- What steps will the department take in the future?
Dabas said the department would continue efforts to maintain reduced consumption levels in the future as well. He added that promoting balanced fertiliser use would remain a priority for the department. He said that besides strict enforcement to stop diversion, awareness campaigns would also be run for farmers to promote judicious use of fertiliser.
