Over 60,000 small growers could miss a chance to tap the good showers tea pockets in Nilgiris have received in the past fortnight because of shortage of fertilisers. Failure to apply fertilisers to their fields now could hit output, they complain.

“Many small growers had not applied fertilisers for almost a year now as they could not afford to buy fertilisers as they faced cash-crunch arising from high cost and low returns. Until June, prices at the auctions were trailing behind last year and factories generated lower realisation for their black teas.

Consequently, the prices they paid to small growers for the green leaf they bought as raw material were low. This did not leave with growers adequate funds to procure fertilisers,” Mr H. Thiagarajan, President, The Nilgiris Small Tea Growers' Association, told Business Line .

‘dire need'

In the second half of this calendar year, factories have been getting higher realisations at auctions. Consequently, they have been paying higher prices to growers. “Small growers are currently prepared to apply fertilisers. Besides, there is a dire need to apply fertilisers to keep our fields productive.

With the rains having generated the necessary moisture, this is the right time to apply inputs,” he said.

“However, there is acute shortage of fertilisers in the market. So, we have appealed to the Central and State Governments to attach due importance to this and make available adequate volume of fertilisers to the small growers in the Nilgiris,” Mr Thiagarajan added.

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