Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a plant of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) for manufacturing liquid nano urea near Kalol town of Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district last week.

With the launch of liquid nano urea, the power of a full sack (50 kg) of urea has come into a half-litre bottle, leading to huge savings in transportation and storage. The plant will produce about 1.5 lakh bottles of 500 ml per day. 

Eight more such plants will be set up in the country.

This will reduce foreign dependence with regard to urea.

What is liquid nano urea?

• Urea is a source of nitrogen, an essential nutrient crucial for crop growth and development. Urea is the most important nitrogenous fertiliser in the country because of its high nitrogen content. It also has industrial applications such as the production of plastics and as a nutritional supplement for cattle.

• The urea sector contributes significantly to fertiliser production and consumption in the country. It accounts for 60 per cent of the total fertiliser consumption and 50 per cent of the total fertiliser imports in terms of volume. 

• Nano fertiliser holds great promise for application in plant nourishment because of the size-dependent qualities, high surface-volume ratio, and unique properties. 

• Nano fertilisers release plant nutrients in a controlled manner contributing to higher nutrient use efficiency. 

• Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has introduced nano urea.

• Nano urea was indigenously developed through the proprietary technology at IFFCO’s Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) in Kalol.

• Liquid nano urea 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.

• Nano urea aims to reduce soil, water and air pollution. 

• Use of liquid nano urea will lead to substantial increase in farmers’ income and it will significantly bring down the logistics and warehousing cost.

• While conventional urea has an efficiency of about 25 per cent, the efficiency of liquid nano urea can be as high as 85-90 per cent.

• Liquid nano urea is sprayed directly on the leaves and gets absorbed by the plant. When sprayed on leaves, nano urea easily enters through stomata and other openings and is assimilated by the plant cells. It is easily distributed through the phloem from source to sink inside the plant as per its need.

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