M.V.N. JYOTHI*, N.T. KRISHNA KISHORE, P.V. SATYA GOPAL AND B. RAMANA MURTHY

Institute of Agribusiness Management, S.V. Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati-517502.

ABSTRACT

The study was undertaken in one district i.e., East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh state was chosen

as the locale of the study, as the state ranks second in consumption of water-soluble fertilizers in India. East Godavari extends over an area of 12,805 square kilometer. It is predominantly an agricultural district and it contributes over 10 per cent of food production in Andhra Pradesh. The study was conducted on the crops which were using water soluble fertilizers to know the usage pattern and its scope for marketing of water soluble fertilizers. The selected crops were Paddy, a field crop; Banana and Mango, a plantation crops; and Chilli, a commercial crop, as they have the largest area under cultivation in East Godavari districts. 4 mandals viz., Ambajepeta mandal, Kunavaram mandal, Tuni mandal, Athreyapuram mandal were selected purposively for the study as they have the highest acreage of the above-mentioned crops and where farmers were using WSF and liquid fertilizers. The selected villages were Pasupalli, Nedhunuru, Kunavaram, Pochavaram, Lolla Athreyapuram, Tuni and Dondavaka villages. The study is based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data needed for the study has been collected from 120 sample population selected purposive cum simple random sampling technique from selected district, duly categorised into 80 farmers (10 farmers from each of 8 villages), 40 dealers (10 dealers each of 4 mandals). The secondary data pertaining to area of above-mentioned crops was obtained from the agriculture department of erstwhile East Godavari district. Most of the farmers were facing a constraint of having poor knowledge on how to prepare the solutions and cost of the water-soluble fertilizers. A few farmers also complained about insufficient water for usage as water is sufficient enough for cultivation in study area and non-availability of WSF. Factors dealers considered while recommending WSFs were based on the quality of fertilizers. Major influential factor on farmers while purchasing WSFs were sales promotional activities. Major constraint for dealers during selling of WSFs was lack of government support on subsidizing the WSFs.

KEYWORDS: WSF-Water soluble fertilizers, Market constraints, Usage pattern, farmers.