1. At present, the retail price of chemical fertilisers is market-driven and not administered by the Government.

2. Ammonia, which is an input of urea, is produced from natural gas.

3. Sulphur, which is a raw material for phosphoric acid fertiliser, is a by-product of oil refineries. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: b

Explanation:

Urea, is provided to the farmers at a statutorily notified Maximum Retail Price (MRP).

As far as market-linking of urea prices is concerned, the MRP of urea is statutorily fixed by the Government. 

The difference between the delivered cost of fertilizers at farm gate and MRP payable by the farmer is given as subsidy to the fertilizer manufacturer/importer by the Government of India.

For Phosphatic & Potassic (P&K) fertilizers, the Government has implemented Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme w.e.f. 1.4.2010. Under the NBS scheme, a fixed amount of subsidy, decided on an annual/bi-annual basis, is provided on subsidized P&K fertilizers depending on their nutrient content including Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP). Under this scheme, MRP is fixed by fertilizer companies as per market dynamics at a reasonable level which is monitored by the Government. The P&K sector is decontrolled and under the NBS scheme the companies are free to take initiatives to produce/import fertilizers as per market dynamics.

So prices of all chemical fertilizers are not administered prices.

Hence statement 1 is incorrect.

Ammonia is  produced  by the Haber-Bosch process, which converts hydrogen and nitrogen to ammonia, this  is one of the most important industrial chemical reactions ever developed. The Haber–Bosch process to synthesize ammonia enabled an increase in food production

Haber-Bosch process consumes alot of energy . The reaction, which runs at temperatures around 500 °C and at pressures up to about 20 MPa, sucks up about 1% of the world’s total energy production. 

The carbon footprint of ammonia synthesis goes well beyond its energy demands. Hydrogen used for the reaction comes from natural gas, coal, or oil through processes that release CO2. 

Hence statement 2 is correct.

Phosphoric acid is produced either by acidulatton of phosphate rock by a mineral acid in a wet process or by burning of phosphorus produced through electro-thermal process. Processes using sulphuric acid are the commonest and most important and may be classified according to the hydrate form in which calcium sulphate crystallises, viz, anhydrate (CaSO4), hemihydrate (CaSO4.l/2H2O) and dihydrate (CaSO4.2H2O). The hydrate form is controlled mainly by temperature and acid concentration. 

Sulphur is an essential raw material for many chemical industries and is essentially used for the production of sulphuric acid, which in turn is used for the production of phosphoric acid chemical fertilizers, textiles, dyestuffs.

In India, presently there are no mineable elemental sulphur reserves. Sulphur combines directly with almost all the elements with the exception of gold, platinum and the noble gases. Sulphide occurs naturally in mineral ores, oil and coal deposits.  Petroleum refineries and gas processing plants extract H2S when making “clean fuels” and use it as a feed stock to produce sulphur and water. The domestic production of elemental sulphur is limited to by-product recoveries from petroleum refineries and fuel oil used as feedstock for manufacturing fertilizer.

Hence statement 3 is correct.

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