Tamil Nadu - Region Profile

Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area and the seventh most populous state. It is the second largest state economy in India as of 2012. It covers an area of 13.0 million hectare. As of 2001 India census, Tamil Nadu had a population of 72.13 million persons. It has historically been an agricultural state and was India's fifth largest producer of rice among the states in 2008. Tamil Nadu accounts for 10 per cent in fruits and 6 per cent of vegetable production in India. Mango and banana are the leading fruit crops in Tamil Nadu accounting for over 87 per cent of the total fruit production in the state. The main vegetables grown are tapioca, tomato, onion, brinjal (eggplant), and drumstick. Table 1 illustrates the current area, productivity and production statistics of major crops in Tamil Nadu.






Nutrient consumption in Tamil Nadu in the past decade is given in Fig. 2. The consumption of total fertilizer nutrients in Tamil Nadu during 2013-14 witnessed decline of 4.2% over the previous year. Total nutrient consumption reduced from 0.947 million MT during 2012-13 to 0.907 million MT during 2013-14. The growth in the consumption of total nutrients increased in Kharif 2013 by 2.8% and in Rabi 2013-14 fell by 9.7% over the respective seasons of the previous year. Kharif: Rabi share in total consumption changed from 44:56 during 2012-13 to 47:53 during 2013-14.

During full year 2013-14, the consumption of N at 0.549 million MT and P₂O₅ at 0.197 million MT declined by 4.4% and 11.8% respectively, over 2012-13. K₂O consumption at 0.161 million MT however, increased by 7.8% during the period. NPK use ratio changed from 3.9:1.5:1 during 2012-13 to 3.4:1.2:1 during 2013-14. The per hectare consumption of total fertilizer nutrients declined from 160.8 kg to 154 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 Tamil Nadu- 2012-13

Parameters	Rice	Jowar	Maize	Total Cereals	Gram	Total Pulses	Total Foodgrains	Total Oilseeds	Sugarcane	Cotton#
Area	1493.1	193.9	291	2117.5	7	507.6	2625.1	388.5	347.2	128
Production	4049.9	165	946.2	5382.9	4.5	209.9	5592.8	816.9	33919.2	500
Productivity	2712	851	3252	2542	645	413	2131	2103	97688	664

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 Tamil Nadu (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	1493.1	4049.9	20.1	11.2	30	81402.99	45358.88	121497
Wheat	0	0	24.4	8.6	32.8	0	0	0
Maize	291	946.2	8.2	3.1	15.5	7758.84	2933.22	14666.1
Total Pulses	507.6	209.9	40	5	20	8396	1049.5	4198
Total Oilseeds	388.5	816.9	54	14	46	44112.6	11436.6	37577.4
Sugarcane	347.2	33919.2	1.7	0.2	2	57662.64	6783.84	67838.4
		Total removal by major crops				199333.1	67562.04	245776.9
		Total fertilizer consumption in Tamil Nadu				574620	223020	149180
		Consumption * Efficiency factor				229848	66906	104426
		Balance/Deficit				30514.93	-656.04	-141351

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

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