Address by the President During the Presentation of the Fertilizers Encyclopedia

The publication is unique in a way that it is the first time that such a comprehensive Fertilizer Encyclopedia has been brought out in India. On going through the book the sincerity, the dedication and the hard work put in by the Editors under the leadership of Dr. Vasant Gowariker is obvious for all to see.

Unique feature of the Encyclopedia is it highlights the terminology and problems which are unique to our country. For example, the areas of salinity, water harvesting and water tables have been explained in detail. These would be of immediate relevance to people connected with actual working of the fertilizers sector.

I was going through the beautiful compilation of the Fertilizer Encyclopedia for understanding certain aspects. To my pleasant surprise, I found the answers to the questions how to use the organic fertilizers, strip fertilizers and how green revolution succeeded by the use of high quantity of high quality fertilizers.

Organic agriculture or organic farming is a critical part of the management of eco-friendly sustainable agricultural systems and includes the use of a vegetative cover as an effective soil and water conservation measure. The practice or no-till farming, mulch farming, and cover crops is carried out in this kind of agriculture. Nutrition is provided through organic manures, composts and legumes. Nutrient recycling mechanisms include the use of crop rotations, appropriate tree/crop combinations in agro-forestry and intercropping systems using legumes. Major strengths of organic agriculture include the avoidance of pesticide applications, greater sustainability, environmentally friendly approach and a larger concern for animal and human welfare. It is also believed that the produce from such type of agriculture is superior in terms of nutritional value, health benefits and taste, compared to the produce grown with chemical fertilizers.

Productivity of organic agriculture is lower than that of mainstream farms and the production costs are generally higher. But organic produce is a speciality product. However, it is also feared that organic farming alone will not be able to satisfy future needs of food on the existing cultivated land.

Strip fertilization is a method of applying fertilizer. It is a modification of banding and broadcasting, and involves the fertilizer being placed in strips so that there is a broad concentrated strip along the crop row. This application is more concentrated than broadcasting, but not as dense and localized as banding. Wide strip application of fertilizers encourages more extensive root development compared to banding. The wide strip application fertilizers is seen to lose less fertilizer by fixation than when done by broadcasting.

Kisan Call Centre offers three levels of interaction and support in Agriculture, fisheries and Animal Husbandry domains through the nationally nominated experts and Corresponding directorates at the Central level. In the last one year of its operation the call centre have provided consultancy, information, assistance and guidance to over 5 lakhs callers from the villages of eight states. Anywhere in India, people can call 1551 as a toll free number to get the services. The top users of the scheme are Maharastra and Tamil Nadu followed by UP and Rajasthan.

The Fertilizer Encyclopedia can be used by the Agricultural scientists, fertilizer Technologists, producers, environmentalists, planners, students, farmers and many other agencies. Particularly, I would suggest that the encyclopedia is made available through all the Kisan Call Centres spread in different parts of the country. This will enable provision of specialists data to the farmers.

I saw, Dr. Norman Borlaug's comments on "The Fertilizer Encyclopedia" prepared by Dr. Vasant Gowariker and his team. His suggestion on the soil and fertilizer was noteworthy. I quote "Asian farmers in particular must now judiciously increase their per hectare use of fertilizer, looking for greater efficiency in use and also in dealing with deficiencies of secondary and minor elements (Soil)".

This clearly speaks about the value of this document. I am also happy to note that Dr.Vasant Gowarikar and his team have created a mechanism for updating of this document which is a crucial requirement for making the document perennially useful.

From now on, to 2020 India would have to gradually increase the production of food grains to around 400 million tonnes. The increase in the production will have to be done under the reduced availability of land from 170 million hectares to 100 million hectares with reduced water availability and reduced manpower. Technology and Fertilizers will be the only means to which we can achieve this goal.

My best wishes to all of you. May God bless you.