West Bengal - Region Profile

West Bengal is one of the most important states of eastern India. The state capital i.e. Kolkata is so far the only metropolitan city and therefore the biggest business hub of eastern India. Geographically this is also a very important state as lying between 21°25'24” and 27°13'15” north latitudes and 85°48'20” and 89°53'04” east longitudes, the State of West Bengal shares its borders with three different nations – Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal – and four other Indian States, viz. Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and Sikkim. It has a total geographical area of 8.875 million hectares. Total population of the state is about 91.3 million people with a population density of 904 per sq. km. Nearly 30% of the state's income comes from agriculture. The state produces more than 15% of total rice production in the country. West Bengal also accounts for 72% of the country's jute, 34% of potato and 22.9% of tea production. Cropped area covers 5.47 million hectares with a cropping intensity of 174.4%. However, only 35 per cent of the cropped area are irrigated. Current food-grain production of the state is 14.4 million tonnes (Mt). Table 1 illustrates the current area, productivity and production statistics of major crops in West Bengal.

Nutrient consumption in West Bengal in the past decade is given in Fig. 2. Total fertilizer nutrient consumption in West Bengal declined from 1.560 million MT during 2012-13 to 1.227 million MT during 2013-14 representing a negative growth of 21.4%. Total nutrient consumption declined in both the seasons. Kharif: Rabi share in total fertilizer consumption changed from 38:62 during 2012-13 to 39:61 during 2013-14. Nutrient-wise break up shows negative growth in all the three nutrients during 2013-14. The consumption of N at 0.693 million MT, P₂O₅ at 0.263 million MT and K₂O at 0.271 million MT during 2013-14 registered decline of 15.9%, 42% and 4.2% respectively, over 2012-13. NPK use ratio changed from 2.9:1.6:1 to 2.6:1:1 during the period. Per hectare use of total fertilizer nutrients reduced from 166.8 kg to 131.2 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 West Bengal-2012-13

Parameters	Rice	Wheat	Maize	Total Cereals	Total Pulses	Total Foodgrains	Groundnut	Total Oilseeds	Jute#	Sugarcane
Area	5444.3	321.6	105.6	5887.1	201.9	6089.0	67.5	732.1	576.7	16.1
Production	15023.7	895.9	416.8	16354.2	192.3	16546.5	170.5	850.7	8228.2	1617.0
Productivity	2760	2786	3947	2778	952	2717	2526	1162	2568	100437

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 West Bengal (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	5444.3	15023.7	20.1	11.2	30	301976.37	168265.4	450711
Wheat	321.6	895.9	24.4	8.6	32.8	21859.96	7704.74	29385.52
Maize	105.6	416.8	8.2	3.1	15.5	3417.76	1292.08	6460.4
Total Pulses	201.9	192.3	40	5	20	7692	961.5	3846
Total Oilseeds	732.1	850.7	54	14	46	45937.8	11909.8	39132.2
Sugarcane	16.1	1617	1.7	0.2	2	2748.9	323.4	3234
Jute	576.7	8228.2	23.5	13	41.7	193362.7	106966.6	343115.94
		Total removal by major crops				576995.49	297423.6	875885.06
		Total fertilizer consumption in West Bengal				824000	453670	282730
		Consumption * Efficiency factor				329600	136101	197911
		Balance/Deficit				-247395.49	-161322.6	-677974.06

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