Indian Biogas Association (IBA) has urged India to mandate a 10 per cent blending of fermented organic manure (FOM) with chemical fertilisers by 2030, saying the move could cut fertiliser import costs by about USD 2 billion a year while helping reverse declining soil health.
The industry body made the proposal in a white paper titled FOM Feeds Soil, Soil Feeds Sustainability, released at an industry summit this month by Santosh Kumar Sarangi, the secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, according to an IBA statement.
The paper recommends a phased blending mandate, starting with 1 per cent in 2026-27 and rising to 10 per cent by 2029-30, positioning FOM as a key intervention to promote sustainable agriculture and reduce India’s dependence on chemical fertilisers.
IBA said India’s soil organic carbon levels are critically low, at around 0.4 per cent, undermining soil fertility, water retention and crop yields. The proposed roadmap calls for calibrated application of FOM based on regional soil carbon levels and crop requirements.
The association also proposed integrating FOM into existing government programmes such as the nutrient-based subsidy regime, the soil health card scheme and organic farming initiatives, including recognising organic carbon as a nutrient parameter to enable balanced fertilisation and fair subsidy support.
To scale up adoption, IBA suggested launching a national umbrella programme, SuBiCulP — Sustainable Biogas-Organic Fertilizer Based Cultivation Programme — aimed at ensuring full offtake of FOM produced from biogas and compressed biogas plants and linking renewable energy with agriculture in a circular economy model.
The association said a mandatory blending framework would create steady demand, strengthen fertiliser distribution networks and support region-specific nutrient solutions. The recent inclusion of FOM under the “Organic Carbon Enhancer” category in India’s fertiliser regulations provides a regulatory base for wider adoption, it added.
“Positioning FOM as a mainstream agricultural input is essential to long-term soil regeneration and climate resilience,” said A R Shukla, president of IBA. “A structured blending mandate, backed by aligned policies and institutions, can transform Indian agriculture and save about USD 2 billion annually once 10 per cent blending is achieved.”
IBA said immediate and coordinated policy action would be critical to unlock the full potential of fermented organic manure as part of India’s push towards regenerative and sustainable farming. |
