CIC AgriBusinesses, a private sector fertiliser company, has taken several key initiatives in line with the Government’s organic fertiliser policy to develop and expand its organic fertiliser production and tie-up with reputed companies worldwide ahead of the forthcoming Maha season.
The company recently acquired a startup company, Bio Technologies Ltd (BTL) specialised in manufacturing value added organic fertiliser.
Bio Technologies has made a specialty granulated organic fertiliser product with the brand name Bio Carbon which has several distinct advantages over the conventional compost. This compacted product is easy to handle and capable of providing a higher nutrient content with a relatively lesser volume.
The product has a long stay in the soil compared to conventional compost. Bio Carbon is now gaining popularity among farmers and CIC Agri Business plans to increase its current production capacity to over 1,000 tons per month within the next
Supporting the Government’s new policy initiative of promoting organic fertiliser use in the country, CIC has taken steps to develop a range of other new value-added organic products. Some of these new products are now being tested at the research stations in the company’s farms and will be released to the market shortly. CIC Agribusinesses recently signed a MoU with Sri Biotech, a subsidiary of Hatton Plantations, to produce and distribute two biofertiliser products for the tea and vegetable sectors. These new products will be added to the current organic product portfolio of the company and will be introduced to the market shortly. Negotiations are also continuing with Green farm Bio and Green Vision-India to commence efficacy trials of several bio-pesticides under the supervision of the Registrar of Pesticides before introducing them to the market. A significant short supply of nitrogen, which is the major plant nutrient used in agriculture, is expected in the coming Maha season due to the government policy decision to ban the use of Urea. As a remedial measure the Government has issued a gazette notification allowing the import of organically extracted nitrogen fertiliser.CIC has already negotiated with two organic fertiliser producing companies in Italy and Belgium to seek the possibility of importing a couple of specialty organic nitrogen supplying fertiliser for paddy and tea sectors.
As soon as the Government develops the protocols for imports, the company will bring down samples for field testing of a few of these new products CIC has also been distributing a value-added organic soil conditioner ‘Saru’ for vegetable farmers in the country over the years. At present the bulk of organic fertiliser sold by CIC is produced in the company’s own farms while a small quantity is purchased from farmers on a buy-back agreement. Initiatives have already been done to enhance the in–house Saru Production and also expand the outgrower purchases.