Wednesday November 4, 03:57 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

Bengal sets up cell to oversee fertiliser prices

By fe Bureaus
The West Bengal government has set up a cell to monitor fertiliser prices and check volatility. Last year, prices jumped more than 30% due to hoarding and black marketing. We have set up a fertiliser cell at Writers Buildings, said Sanjeev Chopra, agriculture secretary. We will also try to educate farmers regarding fertiliser prices, he said. The state government will also issue advertisements to make farmers aware not to buy fertilisers at a price more than the maximum retail price. Naren De, state agriculture minister, said, There were cases, last year, where fertilisers were sold at prices more than the maximum retail price. We are cautious this year. According to industry sources, NPK fertiliser (commonly known as 10-26-26 ) was sold at a premium of Rs 100-150 last year. NPK fertiliser is much in demand in the state especially during potato sowing. Fertiliser usage has steadily increased in the state in the last few years. According to the national agriculture commission, fertiliser consumption is around 130 kg per hectare. Total NPK fertiliser used in the state is around 14 lakh tonne. There is enough fertiliser available as far as the macro picture in state is involved, if there is any scarcity in any pocket it is solely because of obsession of farmers with particular brands, Chopra said on the sidelines of Agro Protech 2009, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce. According to him, potato production in the state in the coming season (December-November) will be more than this year s crop of 3.3 mn tonne as spiralling prices of the tuber has encouraged farmer to grow the crop on more farmland. Ideally potato should be grown on 2,50,000 ha to 3,00,000 ha but we fear this year the acreage would be higher due to high prices they got, Chopra said. The state can t intervene to stop over-production of potato which we believe will happen this year, he said. The state is currently checking potato lying in cold storages for possible traces of late-blight disease. We are doing tests only as a precautionary measure so that the red-blight disease doesn t crop up in the coming season, he said. Potato production in the state this year has been affected by potato late-blight disease and late rains. Production in the December-November season is expected to come down to 3.3 mn tonne against 5.4 mn tonne last year.