Himachal Pradesh - Region Profile

Himachal Pradesh extends between 30° 22' 40" N to 33° 12' 40" N latitudes to 75° 45' 55" E to 79° 04' 20" E longitudes. It covers a geographical area of 5.56 thousand hectare. Himachal Pradesh has a total population of 6.8 million as per the 2011 census. Agriculture contributes over 45% to the net state domestic product. It is the main source of income and employment in Himachal. Over 93% of the population in Himachal depends directly upon agriculture which provides direct employment to 71% of its people. The main cereals grown are wheat, maize, rice and barley. Table 1 illustrates the current area, productivity and production statistics of major crops in Himachal Pradesh.

Nutrient consumption in Himachal Pradesh in the past decade is given in Fig. 2. The consumption of total fertilizer nutrients in Himachal Pradesh increased by 5.2%, from a total of 47.7 thousand MT during 2012-13 to 50.2 thousand MT during 2013-14. The consumption of N at 33.3 thousand MT during 2013-14 slipped marginally by 1.2% over 2012-13. The consumption of P₂O₅ at 8.3 thousand MT and K₂O at 8.6 thousand MT during 2013-14 registered increase of 21.1% and 20.5%, respectively, over the previous year. The consumption of total nutrients increased both in Kharif as well as Rabi. Kharif: Rabi share in total fertilizer consumption changed nominally from 42:58 during 2012-13 to 41:58 during 2013-14.

NPK use ratio changed marginally from 4.7:1:1 during 2012-13 to 3.9:1:1 during 2013-14. The per hectare consumption of fertilizer nutrients marginally increased from 50.1 kg to 52.7 kg during the period. Using the area and production of major crops, the total nutrient (N, P₂O₅ and K₂O) removal by each crop was calculated and a nutrient balance sheet was prepared (table 2).

Table 1: Latest Crop Production Statistics of Himachal Pradesh- 2012-13

Parameters	Rice	Wheat	Maize	Total Cereals	Gram	Total Pulses	Total Foodgrains	Total Oilseeds	Sugarcane
Area	76.9	364.2	294.3	768	0.5	32.6	800.6	13.5	1.9
Production	125.3	608.6	657.2	1434.6	0.5	46.1	1480.7	6.9	42
Productivity	1629	1671	2233	1868	1021	1413	1849	514	22346

Area ('000 ha); Production ('000 tonnes); Productivity (kg/ha); # Production and Productivity in 1000 bales of 180 kg each


Table 2: Nutrient balance sheet for major crops of Himachal Pradesh (2012-13)

Crop	Area (in '000 ha)	Production (in '000 tonnes)	Nutrient Removal (kg/tonne)			Total Removal (tonnes)
			N	P2O5	K2O	N	P2O5	K2O
Rice	76.9	125.3	20.1	11.2	30	2518.53	1403.36	3759
Wheat	364.2	608.6	24.4	8.6	32.8	14849.84	5233.96	19962.08
Maize	294.3	657.2	8.2	3.1	15.5	5389.04	2037.32	10186.6
Total Pulses	32.6	46.1	40	5	20	1844	230.5	922
Total Oilseeds	13.5	6.9	54	14	46	372.6	96.6	317.4
Sugarcane	1.9	42	1.7	0.2	2	71.4	8.4	84
		Total removal by major crops				25045.41	9010.14	35231.08
		Total fertilizer consumption in Himachal Pradesh				33720	6820	7130
		Consumption * Efficiency factor				13488	2046	4991
		Balance/Deficit				-11557.4	-6964.14	-30240.1

Efficiency of N=40%; P2O5= 30%; and K2O=70%

*Crop production and fertilizer use data are retrieved from Fertiliser Statistics, 2013-14, The Fertiliser Association of India, New Delhi