Times Agricultural Journal

The co-operative movement in India has some success stories and some failures. One of the success stories is Amul and the other is Krishak Bharati Co-operative (Kribhco). Incorporated in 1980 as a national co-operative society to manufacture and distribute chemical fertilisers and allied farm inputs, Kribhco is now the largest single unit manufacturer of chemical fertilisers in the country in terms of production.

Laboratory According to vice-chairman, Ramnik Dhami, “For viability of a co-operative, the active and honest participation of members is a must. Take the instance of co-operative sugar mills, where member farmers sell-out their sugarcane at higher prices to other private parties. Such tendencies lead to the collapse of the very ideal co-operatives.”

Besides providing its products to apex-level co-operative federations and institutions in most of the states, Kribhco supplies its products to grassroots level societies through co-operative and other institutional agencies in different states. Such direct supplies not only result in timely availability and increase in fertiliser consumption, but also provide maximum benefits to these societies. “Good management is vital for a co-operative to succeed. Here, in Kribhco, we have professional management, which has been responsible for our ceaseless progress,” says Dhami.

Kribhco diversified into the manufacture of bio-fertilisers in 1995 in order to provide supplementary nutrients at low cost through its Hazira plant, which has a production capacity of 100 tonnes per annum (TPA). The capacity was increased to 250 TPA in December 1998 because of the increasing demand for bio-fertilisers. The projected demand for bio-fertilisers in 2000-2001 is 363.70 tonnes and Kribhco plans to set up six more bio-fertiliser plants to meet the growing demand. “The priority in the country now is for cheaper sources of plant nutrients. These products are sensitive to high temperatures, have a limited shelf-life and there are also problems in their transportation,” says Dhami.

Kribhco’s growth was possible during the protectionist era, backed by government subsidies. After India joined the WTO, there has been global pressure to reduce import duties on fertilisers and cut subsidies. “The market is becoming tough day-by-day. There is free and liberal import from other countries and the government is gradually doing away with subsidies on fertilisers,” says Dhami.

To add to these problems, there is excess production of fertilisers. Kribhco alone crossed a cumulative production of 233 lakh tonnes of urea and 141 lakh tonnes of ammonia. “Frankly, there is now over production in the fertiliser industry,” says Dhami.