Global Fertiliser Crisis 2025: Addressing Fragility of Food Systems and Biofertiliser Integration

The global food system is once again under pressure from a fertiliser shock. In early 2025, prices surged sharply—Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Triple Superphosphate experiencing the steepest escalation, while nitrogen markets oscillated amid volatile energy costs. "Every fertiliser crunch is more than an input shock—it exposes the fragility of food systems intertwined with energy and mineral geopolitics. For India, with one of the world's largest subsidy bills, surging global phosphate or nitrogen prices intensify fiscal strain and farmer vulnerability, while export curbs amplify these systemic risks", stated Renuka Diwan, CEO, BioPrime.

- Suchetana Choudhury

The crisis exposes T systemic fragilities.

"What we are witnessing is not merely a supply disruption but a systemic unravelling where global export curbs, volatile energy costs, and our chronic import dependency have converged to expose the fragility of India's fertiliser architecture. The perversity of artificially low urea prices has distorted nutrient balance, while bureaucratic inertia in logistics and subsidy flows has compounded the malaise. In truth, the crisis is less about scarcity and more about structural myopia," added Jayanta Chakraborty, Chairman, Agriculture Committee, BCC&I.

Dr. Sanjay Bhardwaj, Associate Partner, Forvis Mazars India, further explains how fertiliser crunch is directly straining farmers and household budgets. "Global fertiliser prices have surged, with the World Bank index up 15 per cent in 2025, while TSP and DAP jumped roughly 43 per cent and 23 per cent , respectively. In India, the landed import price of DAP approached Rs 54,160 per tonne, and Urea averaged $546 per tonne internationally.

Governments are underwriting enormous costs: India's fertiliser subsidy outlays remain vast, with multithousand crore disbursements in recent years and targeted top-ups for phosphatic and potassic fertilisers of about $860 million in FY 2024-25", he analysed.

Yet the crisis presents an inflection point. "The fertiliser shortfall of 2025 isn't just a supply glitch-it's a wake-up call to the fragility of our food security, shackled to volatile energy markets, import dependencies, and subsidy distortions. Stopgap imports and capacity boosts may calm the panic, but they're band-aids on a structural wound,"stated Sohit Satyawali, Chief Business Officer Brand Business, Crystal Crop Protection Limited. "The real fix lies in rethinking our nutrient economy-treating biofertilisers and microbial inoculants as partners, not replacements, that boost efficiency, stabilise yields, and revive soil health.