Nano urea will boost crop production, increase farmers' income: IFFCO

The newly-launched nano urea liquid has higher nutrient use efficiency, which will boost crop production and increase farmers' income, an official from the Indian Farmers' Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday virtually inaugurated the world's first nano urea liquid plant by IFFCO near Kalol town of Gujarat's Gandhinagar district.

The nano urea plant has been set up by IFFCO to provide farmers the means to boost productivity and help increase their income.

"Nano urea has higher nutrient use efficiency and aims to reduce soil, water and air pollution. Use of nano urea liquid will lead to substantial increase in farmers' income and it will significantly bring down the logistics and warehousing cost," IFFCO said in a release.

The inspiration to make nano urea came from the prime minister's vision of reducing the use of urea in soil. The liquid fertiliser will be sprayed on plants using drones for better results, IFFCO's managing director Dr U S Awasthi said.

"Nano urea liquid has been found to be very effective in increasing the nutritional quality and productivity of crops and has a huge positive impact on the quality of underground water and environment. Of 3.60 crore bottles of nano urea liquid, which were produced by IFFCO, nearly 2.50 crore bottles have already been sold," Dr Awasthi said.

Speaking on the occasion, chairman of IFFCO Dileep Sanghani said nano urea liquid has been made in line with the prime minister's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and with the aim of increasing farmers' income.

"Nano urea was indigenously developed through the proprietary technology at IFFCO's Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) in Kalol. The first production unit at Kalol has been made with an investment of Rs 175 crore and has the capacity to produce 1.5 lakh bottles of 500 ml per day," Sanghani said.