Crystal Crop Protection yesterday launched post-emergent herbicide HOLA to protect sugarcane crops from weeds and help farmers to increase their income from sugarcane across the country, especially for the farmers in UP and Maharashtra.
Hola is tested in various State Agri Universities and more than 2000 demonstrations were laid in the last 5 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.
"We envisage, in near future Sugarcane will play a crucial role in Indian agriculture and economy. In this context, we are excited to present a new herbicide developed by in-house R&D for the Sugarcane farmers, which will support them in increasing productivity. We look forward to receive its patent soon." said C.S Shukla, Senior Vice president (Strategic Marketing), Crystal Crop Protection Limited.
The company plans to make HOLA available to cane growers in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat in the immediate future which will further strengthen its Crystal’s presence in the Sugarcane belt.
"As a nation, we incur over 18,000 Cr 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 Limited.
The company plans to attain 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, the category of herbicide available to cane growers. HOLA is expected to increase the company's topline by 3-8 per cent in the near future.
Driven by its in-house R&D, acquisition & collaboration with international players, 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.
