The drought in greenfield investment projects in the fertiliser sector in India is finally set to end after over a decade. Existing and prospective investors in fertiliser manufacture are reportedly willing to invest over Rs 45,000 crore in the next few years, both in expansion of existing capacities and creation of new ones. The rising excess demand for fertiliser is driving this renewed spurt in investment activity. The increase in...

IN A remote corner of Bahia state, in north-eastern Brazil, a vast new farm is springing out of the dry bush. Thirty years ago eucalyptus and pine were planted in this part of the cerrado (Brazil’s savannah). Native shrubs later reclaimed some of it. Now every field tells the story of a transformation. Some have been cut to a litter of tree stumps and scrub; on others, charcoal-makers have moved...

Global fertiliser prices have started to hot up once again, in anticipation of tight supplies in 2010-11 and some significant mergers and acquisitions, which could increase the import bill for India and also make key soil nutrients expensive. In just the latter half of July, prices of key phosphatic fertilisers, urea, DAP, phosphate and potash have shot up in a marked manner. Between July 16 and July 29, phosphate prices...

AS CONCERN for the ecosystem runs high all across the world, a small, mountainous state in India’s northeast — Sikkim, has taken a step ahead and declared to go completely organic by the year 2015. What this means is the total phasing out of chemical inputs from agriculture. Sikkim has long been an ecologically conscious state with initiatives such as a comprehensive ban on plastic, bio-medical and chemical waste in...

The recent spike in world food prices has further widened the gap between the developed and the developing economies. While, over 70 per cent of the world's population resides in poor countries, it has access to less than 40 per cent of the world's resources such as water, irrigated land, power, etc. This is a result of inconsistent economic progress (post-colonialisation birth pangs), rampant population growth and distractions such as...