During the current financial year government has set to produce 3.4 million tons of Nitrogen (N) as against the last year production of 3.1 million tons to fulfill the domestic requirements of the input, said an official here Monday.

About 0.739 million tons of Phosphate (P) will be produced as compared to the last year achievement of 0.612 million tons to enhance soil fertility as it was continuously depleting due to mining of the essential plant nutrients from the soils under intensive cultivation and imbalanced use of fertilizers, he added.

The official said that Potash (K) production was set at 26,000 tons as against the its last year's output of 22,000 tons to ensure balanced use of the fertilizers in the country.

He said that during 2011-12, the off take of nitrogen decreased by 0.1 percent, while the use of phosphate and potash declined by 19 percent and 31.3 percent, respectively compared with 2010-11.

This trend has further widened the already existing gap in balanced nutrient application which has been recorded in terms of NP ratio at 5:1 against desirable 2:1, he added.

Overall, the fertilizer off take in 2011-12 was 4.1 percent less as compared to 2010-11 achievements and 7.5 percent less against target, he said adding that decrease in use of P and K may be attributed to their high prices and less farm profitability due to low commodity prices in the local market.

Besides, it has decided to produce about 6.2 million tons of Urea and 1.5 million tons of DAP to promote balanced use of fertilizers to further increase the per acre crop output in the country, he added.