AgriTech

Published: Apr 15, 2022
Updated: Apr 15, 2022

Revolutionary fertiliser in making

Nano-Urea

Nano-urea, a liquid fertiliser, has been developed for the first time in the world by IFFCO. This unique product was introduced just eight months ago and has already met with amazing success. It has been tested on more than 90 crops across 11,000 locations in collaboration with various Indian agriculture universities and institutes of high repute.

It contains 4.0% total nitrogen (w/v) evenly dispersed in water and comprising nano nitrogen particles varying from 20-50 nm in size. It’s a much improved alternative to conventional urea and with better properties. It enhances plant growth, improves soil quality and reduces input costs of farmers, in addition to its environment-friendliness

This first nanotechnology-based one-of-a-kind fertiliser of urea is a big positive indicator for the country, becaise indegenous production of this widely consumed nutrient is inadequate vis-a-vis its demand hence, every year, reluctantly, we resort to imports in big way. Infact, the government has also put in place a special incentive scheme to further encourage the local production of urea. According to industry sources, the country imported 98.3 lakh tonnes of urea during FY21. Similarly, in the first eleven months of the recently concluded FY22, urea imports were 81 lakh tonnes, whereas the total consumption has been pegged at 342 lakh tonnes, excluding nano-urea.

Looking at the initial encouraging response for nano-urea, fertiliser co-operative IFFCO is determined to produce 5 crore bottles of nano-urea this fiscal by utilising its full capacity, against about 80% capacity utilisation recorded last year after it launched the liquid nitrogen crop nutrient in August 2021.

BIG BENEFITS

Commenting on this very positive development, U.S. Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO, said, “We were able to produce 2.9 crore bottles of nano-urea, which is equivalent to 13.05 lakh tonnes of conventional urea available in 45-kg bags. By producing at full capacity and if farmers use the entire quantity, the country could save on imports of 22.5 lakh tonnes of urea.”

Going forward, nano liquid urea could become a complete game-changer for the country, because the government also seems serious in pursuing this newly innovative product which has multiple advantages. That’s why the government is looking to increase nano-urea production to 44 crore bottles per year, which is equivalent to 198 lakh tonnes of conventional urea, when all plants in the pipeline become operational in the next two years. More importantly, the government has directed IFFCO to transfer the technology to other fertiliser PSUs free of cost, among them Brahmaputra Valley Fertilisers Company Ltd. is being added recently.

FARMERS ‘WATCH’

Quite naturally, a majority of farmers are in a ‘wait and watch’ mode over the usage of nano liquid urea as this is a new variant and they are sceptical about its favourable results. Hence, many farmers may want to observe its impact for at least one season.

Though it might sound premature, it is important to mention that the success of nano-urea has immense potential in changing the fertiliser landscape of India due to multiple advantages that the product offers. This could eventually prove to be a boon in reducing the government’s huge subsidy outgo on conventional urea, as well as a big leap to become self-reliant and free from the import of urea after a couple of years. It would certainly an unparalleled achievement.