B'lore firm ships bio-organic manure to China

The Bangalore-based Rs 120 crore bio-organic manure and micronutrients manufacturer, Multiplex Bio-Tech, has shipped its maiden consignment of 102 tonnes of bio-organic manure to China.

The country’s first agri bio-tech company to manufacture bio-organic manure and micronutrients, it has exported micronutrients to countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Vietnam, Malaysia, West Asia and is awaiting orders from Oman. Together, it has earned around Rs 5 crore worth foreign exchange since 1998.

G P Shetty, chairman and managing director, Multiplex told Business Standard today, as China’s requirement for bio-organic manure was 5,000-10,000 tonnes per annum, his company expected more orders.

The company recently offered consultancy in organic farming to Ethiopia where crops are grown on 5,800 hectares, GM (marketing) G K Narayana Swamy said. “It is an irony. Even as farmers in Karnataka are committing suicide for want of chemical fertiliser, the world is looking to our state to herald their farming,” said Shetty, an agro-expert with a doctorate in agriculture.

 

While exorbitant and scarce chemical fertiliser have pushed farmers into the debt-trap, the menace of spurious fertiliser and pesticides, at least 30-40 per cent available in the market being spurious, pushing them into penury, he lamented.

Shetty said the Green Revolution focussed chiefly on three chemical-based major nutrients NPK, foregoing the importance of secondary nutrients, micronutrients and organic matter in the soil. It also laid emphasis on newer breeds. Though this increased the country’s food production, the indiscriminate use of chemical fertiliser since the 1950s has destroyed the natural fertility of the soil.

Launched as a SSI under the self-employment scheme sponsored by the state in 1974, Multiplex produces a range of 130 products using cattle waste, vermicompost, neem powder, Honge and other bio-waste material. It produces as much as Rs 100 crore worth of bio-organic fertiliser and Rs 20-30 crore worth nutrients, being the first to introduce bionutrients into the market in the country.

It is also spreading awareness on the use of bio-organic fertiliser, nutrients and pesticides by distributing literature in 10 languages across the country. “We are even prepared to offer knowhow if some firm comes forward,” Shetty said.

He said it would require about 150 kg fertiliser costing Rs 800 per acre. This was less than the quantum of chemical fertiliser. Besides, it improves the soil fertility, unlike chemical fertiliser and pesticides which destroy the soil fertility reducing its role to a mere anchor.

According to a study, vegetables, fruits and food grains grown today contain 20-30 per cent less nutrition as compared to early 1970s.

Narrating a success story, Shetty said within six months after tsunami hit Andaman and Nicobar islands and turned the soil into high saline content, the soil was brought to normal levels for cultivation of coconut, paddy, areca and vegetables.