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| Despite fall in acreage, fertiliser sales soar in kharif season |
| Ajay Modi & Jyoti Mukul / New Delhi Oct 05, 2009, 01:02 IST |
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Fertiliser sales reported during the recently concluded kharif sowing period has been more than last year despite a fall in overall acreage. The Department of Fertilisers anticipates that farmers and retailers are holding on to the fertiliser stock and this will lead to lower demand during the rabi season, beginning this month.
“Demand during the kharif season was buoyant. But all the fertiliser bought has not gone into the fields. Either the farmers or the state marketing federations are holding on to the stocks,” said Fertiliser Secretary Atul Chaturvedi.
Erratic rains during this kharif sowing season has impacted the sowing of paddy and oilseeds and, therefore, fertiliser consumption should have been lower than last year. While the acreage of paddy is down 16 per cent to 31.54 million hectares, the acreage of oilseeds has dipped nearly 7 per cent to 16.74 million hectares.
The Department of Fertilisers anticipates that the demand during the rabi season will not be as high as that of last year since stocks will be available. “The anxiety and pressure for rabi demand is not much,” Chaturvedi added. The Fertiliser subsidy at Rs 55,000 crore this year is expected to be much below the last year level of Rs 1,17,000 crore.
According to figures available with the department till September 25, sale of urea during the kharif season was 10.5 million tonnes which was 5 per cent higher than last year’s figure. For the whole kharif sowing period ending September 30, it is estimated to be around 11 million tonnes. The sale of di-ammonium phosphate was 5.74 million tonnes, about 10 per cent higher than last year, while MOP sales was similar to last year’s level of 1.56 million tonnes. Sale of fertiliser complex at 3.07 million tonnes was 8 per cent higher.
“The south-eastern region of the country where we operate has received abundant rains and rabi acreage will, therefore, increase in these areas. For our company, the kharif sale was marginally lower than last year. However, rabi sale is expected to be better or at least equivalent to last year,” said R S Nanda, director and chief operating officer of Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals.
While the acreage of main kharif crops has come down due to errant rains, the government is working towards boosting rabi output. At a national rabi conference concluded in the last week of September, the central and state governments have resolved to produce an additional eight million tonnes foodgrains and 1.2 million tonnes oilseeds. State governments would be required to take steps to ensure timely planting, advanced planning for input management, efficient management of canal water, campaign for seed treatment, among others.
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