Even as agrarian crisis remains a major cause of concern for the State Government, an official report suggests that the State is lagging in terms of use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
As per report, less than 60 kg chemical fertiliser is being used per hectare of land in Odisha while the quantity is more than 2.5 quintal in Punjab.
In Bihar and Haryana, chemical fertiliser use is more than two quintals per hectare while the quantity is approximately two quintal in States like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. States that are using average of one quintal fertiliser per acre for crop production include Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
The quantity is between 10 kg and 13 kg in some districts of Odisha and this has become a threat to crop production in the State, opine agriculture researchers.
In Odisha, around 3.13 lakh metric tonne fertilisers of nitrogen variant, 1.18 lakh metric tonne of phosphate variant and 57,000 metric tonne potassium variant fertilisers are being used per year.
On an average 57 kg chemical fertilisers are being used per acre in the State, stated the final economic survey report. The districts on the top of the list in terms of use of chemical fertiliser include Nabarangpur, Sambalpur, Bargarh and Baleswar.
While 154.2 kg chemical fertiliser is used per acre in Nabarangpur, the quantity is 106 kg in Sambalpur, 110 kg in Bargarh and 101 in Baleswar district.
In the districts including Balangir, Boudh, Angul, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, Kandhamal, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiir, Mayurbhanj, Nuapada, Nayagarh, Subarnapur and Sundergarh, the quantity of chemical fertilisers used per hectare of land is less than 50 kg.
The quantity is less than 10 kg in Kandhamal, 25 kg in Angul, 28 kg in Dhenkanal, 29 kg in Malkangiri, 24 kg in Nayagarh per acre.
Similarly, the State also lags in terms of use of pesticide. less than 1,500 metric tonne pesticide is being used in over 62 lakh hectare farming land per year in the State.
