India
- Population 1.2 billion
- 18 percent of world population but only 11 percent of its arable land
- Second largest fertilizer consuming country with around 14 percent of world use
- Annual fertilizer consumption growth of 4.5 percent this decade
- Government heavily subsidizes fertilizer for farmers to stimulate yield improvements
- Yields typically 20-50 percent of those on equivalent US cropland
- Government has set an agricultural sector growth target of 4 percent per year until at least 2012
- Per capita renewable water resources are well below global average levels and farmers are heavily reliant on seasonal monsoon rains to support crop production
- Has no indigenous potash
- Very poor nutrient balances in Indias soils, insufficient potash applied relative to nitrogen and phosphate, and more than 70 percent of soils have low to medium potassium content
(All numbers are in tonnes)