The Hindu Business Line : Fertiliser shortage hits cardamom plantations

Some of the major growers in Kerala’s Idukki district told Business Line that they were able to get only around 50 per cent of their fertiliser requirement from indigenous sources. The remaining demand is met by purchasing imported fertilisers at almost double the cost, they said.

“We are using water-soluble ‘Pollyfeed’ fertiliser imported from Israel,” said Mr Ashok Kumar, a Cumbum-based major cardamom planter. According to him, it has proved to be good and more productive with increase in yield. And yet the production cost is higher, he said.

He said fertiliser is normally applied three times a year and the total quantity required is one kg a plant. Kerala has around 33,000 hectares under the crop and the yielding area is estimated at 20,000 hectares of which in about 12,000 hectares one kg of fertiliser is applied every year a plant. Thus, the annual demand of complex fertilisers will come to around 15,000 tonne, the major planters said.

In the absence of complex fertilisers, many of the growers–small and medium–have been filling up the gap with organic manures, they said.

DECLINED USAGE

“Severe shortage was felt in Idukki district for complex fertilisers such as Factumfos and DAP. Only one-fifth of the estimated demand of 15,000 tonnes of Factumfos was supplied here so far this year,” Mr P.C. Punnoose, General Manager, Cardamom Processing and Marketing Company, which is the wholesale seller of fertilisers, told Business Line. FACT also directly market factumfos and its other products, through its sales depots.

According to him, the sharp fall in application of fertilisers has resulted in reduction in the size of the cardamom capsules. It is evident from the sharp fall in the arrival of 8mm bold capsules at auctions during the current season, he said.

There has been substantial decline in the use of complex fertilisers in other sectors also in the state due to its severe short supply, he added.

FACT ENHANCES CAPACITY

Meanwhile, senior sources at the Central Public Sector, Fertilisers and Chemicals, Travancore Limited (FACT), the main supplier of complex fertilisers in the state told Business Line that the company had started manufacturing 2,500 tonnes of factumfos and 600 tonnes of ammonium sulphate daily and at this rate FACT would be able to achieve a total sales of around 75,000 tonnes as against the movement plan for October. It is for the first time in one year that “we are able to set a sales target of this much volume,” they said. “Thus, we can assure the growers of enough supply of these fertilisers this month,” they said. In fact, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have already been allocated 15,000 tonnes each for this month and Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka 7,500 tonnes each.

Besides, imported urea allocation for Kerala is 5,000 tonnes and Tamil Nadu 3,000 tonnes, they said.

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