Customized fertilizer plant at NFCL commissioned India

A customized fertilizer plant of 400 metric tonnes capacity per day and constructed within the existing premises of NFCL was commissioned . The Nagarjuna Group Chairman K S Raju and Managing Director Rahul Raju, who attended as the chief guests, described the plant as a boon to the farmers. Integrated with soil information, the customized fertiliser is formulated on sound plant nutrition principles,thus becoming soil and crop-specific fertilizer. It contains both macro and micro nutrients and provide balanced crop nutrition to the soil, they claimed. This is in line with the group s mission to deliver wholesome nutrition solutions to farmers, they claimed.
Customised Fertilizers are combination of micro nutrients like sulphur, zinc, boron added to the key items such as urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) and potash, in a proportion that suits specific crops and soil patterns.

A fertilizer formulated according to specifications that are furnished by/for a consumer prior to mixing, usually based on the results of soil tests. Customized fertilizers are depends on soil, crop, water and specific nutrients.

Customised fertiliser manufacture basically involves mixing and crushing of urea, DAP, MOP, ZnS, bentonite sulphur and boron granules for obtaining the desired proportion of N, P, K, S and micronutrients. The mixture is subjected to steam injection, drying, sieving and cooling, so as to get a uniform product with every grain having the same nutrient composition.

Following are some issues in marketing of customized fertilizers:
  1. Production Cost is high therefore these are costly fertilizers and not subsidized by Government of India.
  2. The diversity in product mix between producers.
  3. There should be healthy competition as subsidy will given by GOI on nutrient basis and integrated use of nutrients with thrust on to avoid indiscriminate and imbalanced used of fertilizer.
  4. Allocation of raw material (finish fertilizers).
  5. Awareness of these fertilizers among farmers.
  6. These fertilizers are not affordable to small farmers.
  7. Segmentation and promotion are big issues in marketing of customized fertilizers.

Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL), launched the ‘Paras Farmoola', the country's first ever customized fertilizer product specifically targeted at farmers in western-central Uttar Pradesh (UP). For manufacturing the customized fertilizers, TCL has set up an Rs 60-crore 130,000 tonnes per annum facility at its existing urea unit at Babrala in UP, with technology sourced from A.J. Sackett of the US. The company intends to establish two more plants, involving a total outlay of Rs 110 crore, in West Bengal and UP.

Wheat farmers now apply one 50 kg bag of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) costing around Rs 500, half-a-bag of muriate of potash (MOP) costing Rs 130 and 10 kg of zinc sulphate (ZnS) costing Rs 400 on every acre at the time of sowing. Besides, they use two bags of urea (Rs 265 each) while irrigating the standing crop. The total cost of fertilizers comes to roughly Rs 1,560 an acre, against which they obtain an average yield of 12 quintals.

With the customized fertilizer, the farmer can do away with DAP, MOP or ZnS and, instead, just apply four bags of ‘Paras Farmoola' (costing Rs 600 each) as a basal dose, followed by the usual two bags of urea. The total fertilizer cost here works out higher (at Rs 2,930). But then, the farmer will get 22 quintals an acre, with this additional 10 quintals worth over Rs 11,000 claimed by the company.