Dark side of the Green Revolution: imbalance of fertiliser use across states and its impact on biodiversity in India

Nihar R. Mishra, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Purujit Praharaj, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Reshmi R.S, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Fertilizer plays a key role in agricultural prosperity. As the population increased rapidly and since the possibilities of increasing the net sown area were nearly exhausted the incremental output from agriculture had to come from a higher yield per unit area. Hence the green revolution saw an increase consumption of chemical fertilizers namely nitrogenous (N), phosphorus (P) and potash (K). Consumption of P is the highest in the southern states followed by the northern, western and eastern states. K consumption is very high in the southern states followed by the eastern, western and the northern states. The coefficient of variation of fertilizer use across 19 states is the least for n followed by p and K. Coefficient of variation for k is very high. This means that there is a greater stability in fertilizer use of n and p across states than k.