• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Ch. Prashanth Reddy

HYDERABAD, July 30

CONTRACT farming may be the in thing today. But United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL), the largest producer of crop protection products in the country, has gone a step ahead. It has come out with the concept of contract spraying.

The company is currently holding discussions with the Andhra Pradesh Government for engaging agricultural graduates for contract spraying under the Union Government's `agri-clinics' scheme.

The UPL's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Krishna Srivastava, and the General Manager, Mr M.S. Rama Rao, told Business Line that the State had welcomed the idea and the company would be shortly submitting a detailed proposal in this regard.

The proposal envisages engagement of five graduates— two in agricultural sciences and one each in agricultural engineering, veterinary science and home science— and providing them with two modern Jacto sprayers, to be imported by the company from Brazil. Each of these sprayers, costing Rs 1.5 lakh, can spray 50 acres of crop per day. The self-employed graduates can charge the farmers for spraying pesticides and other inputs on their crops.

In fact, Jacto sprayers are already in use in Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka and certain parts of Andhra. UPL has a four-member team, which exclusively undertakes spraying operations in Punjab and Haryana. The team has 14 Jacto sprayers under its disposal. In some of the districts of Andhra, cotton and mango growers have purchased these sprayers for personal use. They also utilise their equipment for spraying the crops of other farmers for Rs 80-100 per acre while UPL charges about Rs 50 per acre.

Mr Srivastava said UPL would bear 50 per cent of the cost of the sprayers and the State Government had been asked to bear the remaining 50 per cent amounting to Rs 75,000. Under the agri-clinics scheme, assistance to an extent of Rs 10 lakh could be provided to agricultural graduates. Apart from spraying, the graduates could educate the farmers on the various aspects of agricultural operations including pest management. The company would train the graduates in all these aspects.

According to UPL officials, optimal efficiencies can be achieved in the application of pesticides by using the imported sprayers. These sprayers could be mounted on tractors and spraying could be done even during nights. They are also effective in spraying pesticides on tall crops as red gram.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
Rubber from sunflower!

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line