Tripura – Region Profile

Tripura is a state in North East India. It extends from 22°56'N to 24°32'N, and 91°09'E to 92°20'E. The third-smallest state in the country, Tripura covers 1.04 million hectare and is bordered by Bangladesh to the north, south, and west, and the Indian states of Assam and Mizoram to the east. As of 2011 census, the state has 3.6 million residents, constituting 0.3% of the country's population. Tripura is an agrarian state with more than half of the population dependent on agriculture and allied activities. However, due to hilly terrain and forest cover, only 27 per cent of the land is available for cultivation. Rice, the major crop of the state, is cultivated in 91 per cent of the cropped area. Table 1 illustrates the current area, productivity and production statistics of major crops in Tripura.


Nutrient consumption in Tripura in the past decade is given in Fig. 2. Total fertilizer nutrient consumption in the state of Tripura increased from 18.64 thousand MT during 2011-12 to 25.44 thousand MT in 2012-13. The nutrient consumption ratio for N, P₂O₅ and K₂O was 4.1:2.1:1 in the year 2011-12 as over 3.0:2.0:1 in the year 2012-13. The total consumption of plant nutrients per unit of gross cropped area was 53.3 kg/ha in 2011-12 which increased to 72.7 kg/ha in 2012-13. 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 Tripura -2012-13

Parameters	Rice	Wheat	Maize	Total Cereals	Gram	Total Pulses	Total Foodgrains	Total Oilseeds	Sugarcane	Cotton#
Area	254.7	0.7	3.6	259	0.2	8.5	267.5	4.8	0.9	0.6
Production	713.2	1.3	4.7	719.2	0.1	6	725.2	2.4	45.4	5.3
Productivity	2800	2000	1295	2777	774	705	2711	506	50541	1479

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 Tripura (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	254.7	713.2	20.1	11.2	30	14335.32	7987.84	21396
Wheat	0.7	1.3	24.4	8.6	32.8	31.72	11.18	42.64
Maize	3.6	4.7	8.2	3.1	15.5	38.54	14.57	72.85
Total Pulses	8.5	6	40	5	20	240	30	120
Total Oilseeds	4.8	2.4	54	14	46	129.6	33.6	110.4
Sugarcane	0.9	45.4	1.7	0.2	2	77.18	9.08	90.8
		Total removal by major crops				14852.36	8086.27	21832.69
		Total fertilizer consumption in Tripura				13680	7230	4530
		Consumption * Efficiency factor				5472	2169	3171
		Balance/Deficit				-9380.36	-5917.27	-18661.7

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