Gowda flags off IFFCO ‘nano urea’ dispatch to K’taka; promises land for plant in Bengaluru

PTI, Jun 12, 2021, 8:03 PM IST

Bengaluru: Fertilizers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Saturday flagged off a dispatch of ‘nano urea’ fertilizer to Karnataka and promised awarding a piece of land to fertilizer cooperative major IFFCO for setting up a plant in Bengaluru for nano urea production.

On May 31, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) introduced the world’s first ‘nano urea’ in liquid form for farmers worldwide, and its production has commenced from the current month.

The cooperative had earlier dispatched nano urea to Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

According to IFFCO, the use of nano urea by farmers will not only improve soil health and crop productivity but will also reduce the use of chemical fertilizers.

“It is a momentous occasion for India where IFFCO is working towards realizing Prime Minister’s dream of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Aatmanirbhar Krishi… We will give you a site (land) near airport in Bengaluru from where IFFCO can produce nano urea from Karnataka,” an official statement quoted Gowda having said after flagging off the dispatch virtually.

IFFCO had requested the minister to award land for a plant in Karnataka where nano urea and nano DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) could be produced for the southern India.

The Kalol plant in Gujarat is dispatching one truck with 15,000 bottles of nano urea per day and soon the plant would dispatch 10 trucks every day, IFFCO Managing Director U S Awasthi said.

He further said the Kalol plant is producing 6,750 tonne equivalent of urea per day, which would result in saving Rs 35,000 crore of the government’s subsidy burden and would help farmers earn additional Rs 35,000 crore.

The plant has started trails of nano urea and nano DAP from this Kharif crop season staring June and IFFCO is very hopeful of the success. After this, the plant would produce both nano urea and nano DAP, Awasthi added.

Karnataka Agriculture Commissioner Brijesh Kumar Dikshit, IFFCO Chairman B S Nakai and Vice Chairman Dileep Sanghani were present during the event.

IFFCO said it was in the process of constructing plants at its Kalol unit in Gujarat and also at Aonla and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh in Phase- I by year 2021-22. The total annual production capacity would be initially 14 crore bottles of 500 ml, which will further be raised to 18 crore.

In Phase-II, four more plants will be commissioned by year 2022-23, producing another 18 crore bottles.

These non-subsidised bottles will be sold to farmers, without any subsidy, at a price 10 per cent lower than the price of 45 kg urea bag, it said.

Farmers can easily use nano urea. One 500 ml bottle of nano urea is sufficient for spraying two times over an acre of field. Now, instead of carrying a 45 kg bag of urea on shoulder, farmers can easily carry a 500 ml bottle of IFFCO nano urea to the fields, it added.