Fertiliser consumption after 1974-75: a critical review

Abstract

After a sharp decline in 1974-75, consumption of fertilizer increased substantially in the subsequent years. In fact, the growth in absolute terms registered during 1976-77 (and also likely to register in 1977-78) is larger than during any year prior to 1976-77. Such an impressive growth has occurred under price environment which is much less favorable to the cultivators than the one which prevailed in the years before the Oil Crises. All this has created a general feeling that all s well with the trends in demand for fertilizer as well as efforts to generate continuous rapid growth in it. The main aim of the paper is to assess critically the prospects of continuous rapid growth in demand for fertilizer during the next few years. This is done by identifying the forces responsible for growth after 1974 in the background of growth in fertilizer consumption up to 1974.