‘Rain deficit,low cultivation area to affect fertiliser sale in rabi season’

He added: “The company sells about nine lakh metric tonnes of fertilisers in the kharif and rabi seasons. We have been able to reach the target in the kharif season,but in the regions where people are dependent on rainwater,we expect a drop in sales during the rabi season.”

The sale of fertiliser has been increasing consistently over the years. In 2003-04,the sale of fertilisers was around 10,57,397 MT,which increased to 16,38,033 MT in 2007-08.

The Rs 1,500 crore company is engaged in the distribution of all kinds of fertiliser through its three-tier channel to farmers throughout the state.

Gujcomasol has around 5,000 cooperative societies and 2.5 crore farmers are associated with it. At places where there are no cooperative societies,Gujcomasol sells its seeds and fertilisers through depots. There are around 100 such depots in the state and the company plans to set up another 20 in the current year. Gujcomasol contributes about 55 to 60 per cent of the total consumption of fertiliser in Gujarat.

The requirement of fertiliser is showing an increase every year,despite the fluctuation in the sale of seeds over the years,including the original cotton variety 6,8 and 10 in the last few years.

Experts believe that there are two major reasons for the changes in the sale of seed: one being the chang in the crop pattern,and the other being the use of Bt cotton seeds.

Many of the places where groundnut was the main crop have now moved to cotton. “The introduction of Bt cotton variety affected our sales of cotton seeds. Our seeds prepared by the agriculture universities got affected by more than 50 per cent. This was one of the reasons why the sale of seeds went down,” Patel said.