Fertiliser shortage hits Kerala’s pineapple farming community
Fertiliser shortage and its timely availability has put Kerala’s pineapple farmers in a mess especially when the fruit is gaining increased consumer acceptance witnessing rising consumption nation-wide.
Baby John, president of Pineapple Growers Association Keralam said that urea, potash, DAP, Factamfos are the fertilisers mainly used for farming in the rainy season. It is time now for fertiliser application with the start of northeast monsoon (NEM). But the sector is facing a shortage of around 60 per cent from the beginning of the year.
Moreover, he said that the stoppage of production of Factomfos by FACT has also hit farmers badly. Pineapple farmers depend on this particular fertiliser for a long time and the agriculture department has not made any efforts to supply the fertiliser on time, he said.
Being a subsidised fertiliser, Baby John said the availability is limited to farmers. The farming community have sent several representations to the government to ensure adequate fertiliser availability, but their response was not encouraging, he said.
Sources in FACT said that phosphoric acid is the main raw material used for Factamfos production, which is mainly sourced from Morocco. The pricing issues connected have prompted the supplier to cut the supply to FACT, leading to the stoppage of Factamfos production. However, the company has made internal and external arrangements to source the raw materials from other places and the production of Factamfos is expected to commence in the next few days, the sources added.
According to Baby John, the emerging situation, coupled with the shortage of suckers due to the extreme humid conditions in the summer has affected its production as well as plants. The sucker price rose to ₹17 compared to ₹10 earlier, prompting farmers not to go for any further expansion of their farming areas.
Of late, pineapple as a fruit is getting wider consumer acceptance across the country thanks to the increased awareness of its quality and pesticide freeness. For the last two years, farmers are getting a remunerative and stable price at ₹45 for green and ₹52 for fruit for A grade pineapple, he said.
This year, the sector is expecting a production of 5.5 lakh tonnes like that of last year on a farming area of 23,000 hectares mostly taken on lease at replanting rubber plantations, he said.