During the Eighth Plan period Rajasthan achieved a growth rate of 24.8 per cent per annum over that of the Seventh Plan period, which was also the highest in the country. Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), urea and single super phosphate (SSP) are on the rise with the farmers not enamoured of using potassic fertilisers. This is due to the peculiar nature of the soils.

``We are trying our best to make the farmers agreeable to the use of fertilisers in a balanced manner so that their productivity rises'', says Purshottam Agarwal, Director of Agriculture. According to Agarwal, the balanced use of fertilisers should be in the ratio of 4:2:1-NPK.

The balanced use of fertilisers got disturbed following the decontrol of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers by the government in1991-92 when their retail prices shot up.

``The balance is now disturbed in favour of urea,'' says Agarwal.

In fact, the use of urea in Rajasthan has just been doubled over the last few years with farmers having little knowledge about the correct uses of phosphatic fertilisers. As a result the health of the soils has somewhat deteriorated.

Says Agarwal, ``the farmers have a nagging feeling that the excessive use of urea would do them good''. The department has taken several measures to make the farmers aware that the use of fertilisers should not be dependent on the price factor. The overall effect of the use of fertilisers should be seen in a way that the productivity rose.

On the availability of fertilisers in Rajasthan, Agarwal said that enough precautions had been taken to ensure that the farmers got their requirement in time. During 1997-98 rabi the government gave to Rajasthan 8.32 lakh tonnes of urea and for the current kharif the requirement is placed at 4.18 lakh tonnes.

Urea is selling atabout Rs 3,600 per tonne in Rajasthan and its consumption is put at 36 kg per hectares (on an average) as against the all-India average of 76 per kg per hectare. Despite the highest ever growth in the fertliser consumption in Rajasthan, the farmers had still not developed the fancy of using fertilisers to a reasonable level.

During the Seventh Plan the use of fertiliser was 15 kg per hectare which rose to 29 kg per hectare in the Eighth Plan and now it is put at around 37 per kg per hectare. For traders having the maximum stock of 10 tonnes at any given time no licenses were now required, said Agarwal. This had led to increase in the consumption of urea. And the rains had been normal in the last few years.

In the kharif season the fertiliser consumption is low compared to the rabi season. Hitherto the farmers hardly used fertilisers in the bajra crop but now there was some change. If top dressing was done with the help of urea in the case of bajra, the production would certainly go up, said the director.The return would be much more.

Due to the recent cyclonic disturbances in Gujarat when the Kandla port got damaged to a large extent the availability of DAP may fall. However the government has taken adequate measures to get the maximum of DAP from other sources.

Agarwal said that Paradeep Phosphatic Ltd., a Government of India Undertaking, has agreed to make available 20,00 tonnes of DAP to Rajasthan to make good the shortages as a result of the the damages in Kandla. Likewise, talks were also in progress with SPIC to give 10,000 tonnes of DAP to Rajasthan, Agarwal added.