He was addressing industry body FICCI’s ‘India Innovative Crop Nutrition Conclave 2026’ in the national capital.
Dev noted that the agriculture sector has an important role to play in making India a developed nation by 2047.
The farm sector needs to be more diversified, nutritious, sustainable and climate resilient, he added.
The Chairman of EAC-PM emphasised on improving crop productivity as well as enhancing post-harvest and marketing activities.
Regarding high fertiliser consumption, Dev said the West-Asia conflict has created supply problems and increased subsidy. However, he added that global urea prices, fortunately, have come down sharply.
“India is diversifying the source of imports and trying to increase domestic production,” he said.The country imported more than 100 lakh tonnes of urea last fiscal to meet domestic demand.
Dev pointed out that there are several states and districts that are using very high levels of fertilisers per hectare. “Diversification of crops to less fertiliser intensive crops like millets, pulses and oilseeds can reduce fertiliser use,” he said, adding that the share of organic as well as natural farming should increase.
Dev noted that India’s fertiliser sector reforms have been in the right direction.
He listed out those reforms, including sale of neem-coated urea, direct benefit transfer (DBT), soil health cards, nano-urea, PM-PRANAM scheme, natural farming initiatives and the Nutrient Based Subsidy regime.
“As a next step we should consider a National Nutrient Use Efficiency Initiative that shifts our focus from the quantity of fertiliser consumed to the productivity it generates,” the Chairman of EAC-PM said.
Dev said this can be done through district-level efficiency benchmarking, crop-wise nutrient productivity targets, and outcome-linked incentive grants.
“We can develop scientifically prescribed per-acre nutrient budgets by harnessing AgriStack, satellite mapping, soil health card and PM-KISAN data, and digital land records,” he added.
Dev also suggested having a ‘nutrient credit system’ on the lines of carbon credits.
He emphasised on the need to make a consolidated effort to restore soil health, by incorporating elements like composting, crop-residue management, green manure, agro-forestry and livestock linked nutrient recycling.
“This is because the productivity gains of the future will come increasingly from soil biology rather than from ever-greater application of nitrogen,” the Chairman said.
Talking about use of digital technology, Dev asked investors to look at platforms that combine artificial intelligence, the internet of things and satellite imagery to prescribe exact hyper-localised nutrient mixes.
“Drone based spraying, fertigation and IoT-enabled nutrient application are no longer experiments. In our ecologically stressed fertiliser-intensive regions they are becoming necessities,” he observed.
Dev called upon making Indian agriculture not only the most productive in the world but also the most nourishing and crop nutrient.