New Delhi, Feb 23 (PTI) Agro chemicals firm Crystal Crop Protection Ltd on Wednesday said it has introduced a new herbicide to check weeds in sugarcane crops and expects up to 8 per cent increase in revenue from this product in the next few years.
Crystal Crop had posted a turnover of around Rs 2,100 crore during the last fiscal year and is expecting a single digit growth in the 2021-22 financial year.
The company in a statement said that it has launched post-emergent herbicide ‘HOLA’ to protect sugarcane crops from weeds.
When contacted, the company’s Senior Vice President (Strategic Marketing) C S Shukla said the total market size of herbicides for sugarcane crop is estimated at Rs 600 crore.
“We are looking to capture a market share of 5-6 per cent in the first year of launch and 12-15 per cent in the next couple of years,” he added.
Shukla said the new product is expected to increase the company’s topline by 3-8 per cent in the near future.
Shukla said farmers are currently incurring Rs 3,000-4,000 per acre for weed management.
“With our product, their cost will come down to Rs 2,450 per acre,” he added.
Crystal Crop said the new product Hola has been tested in various state agriculture universities and more than 2,000 demonstrations were laid in the last five years with sugarcane farmers.
“HOLA has been found effective in the control of narrow leaf weeds, broadleaf weeds and Sedges specially Cyperus Rotundus (Motha), which is a major problem faced by farmers,” the statement said.
The product has been developed by in-house R&D for the sugarcane farmers.
The company is expected to receive its patent soon for this product.
The company will target Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat to market its product.
“As a nation, we incur over Rs 18,000 crore losses due to weeds in sugarcane. Hola will provide great relief to sugarcane farmers who suffer losses due to various kinds of weeds in crop,” said Ajit Shankhdhar, National Sales Head, Crystal Crop Protection.
The company has launched 17 products in the last two years and is ready to launch six to seven more products shortly depending upon the grant of registration by the regulatory authority.
Recently, Crystal had completed the acquisition of four hybrid seeds — cotton, mustard, pearl millet, and grain sorghum — from Bayer in India.
The company has four operational formulations manufacturing facilities, two of which are located at, Jammu, one at Sonipat, Haryana and one located at Anand, Gujarat.
With its recently inaugurated technical manufacturing facility at Nagpur, Crystal now has two operational technical plants, the first being at Sonipat, Haryana.
The third technical manufacturing facility is coming up at Dahej, Gujarat. PTI MJH MR MR
