The proceedings of the 50th AGM of co-op titan IFFCO were marked by an unprecedented enthusiasm among the delegates, as the MD Dr U S Awasthi introduced the Nano urea liquid before a gathering of more than 800 delegates connected through digital mode on Monday.
“This is World’s First Nano Urea Liquid being introduced for farmers across the world”, said Dr Awasthi at IFFCO’s headquarters in Delhi, where about 28 RGB members had assembled keeping the Lockdown and social distancing norms in mind.
Asking others to join in welcoming the historic moment, IFFCO’s Vice-Chairman Dileep Sanghani stood on his feet and began clapping unmindful of his surroundings. The sight of the IFFCO MD holding the Nano bottle and waving it before the RGB members, got etched in the minds of the participants virtually connected across the country.
The MD said the Nano urea would be available in the market from tomorrow even though the commercial production on large scale would begin from June 15. “This is an inspiration taken from the call of the Prime Minister of India for reducing the use of Urea in the soil. The Nano Urea Liquid is indigenously developed after many years of dedicated and sincere research of IFFCO’s Scientists and Engineers through a proprietary technology developed at Nano Biotechnology Research Centre, Kalol, in tune with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Krishi’, the MD underlined”
Awasthi informed that IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid has been found to be effective as it increases the production with improved nutritional quality. It will also have a huge positive impact on the quality of underground water, a very significant reduction in global warming with an impact on climate change and sustainable development.
Translation of the idea of Nano Urea Liquid into reality for farmers use will boost balanced nutrition programs by reducing the excess use of Urea application in the soil. The excess urea causes environmental pollution, harms soil health, and makes plants more susceptible for disease & insect infestation, delayed maturity of the crop & production loss. The Nano Urea Liquid makes the crops stronger, healthier and protects them from lodging effects, claimed IFFCO official.
The IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid is easy on the pocket of farmers and will be effective in increasing farmers income. A 500 ml bottle of IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid will replace at least one bag of conventional Urea.
Hence, it will reduce the input cost to farmers. Due to the small size of Nano Urea Liquid, it’s bottle can be kept in the pocket and will significantly bring down the cost of logistics and warehousing as well.
The IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid is now included in Fertiliser Control Order (FCO, 1985) on the basis of multi- location and multi-crop trials undertaken under National Agriculture Research System (NARS) at 20 ICAR research institutes, State Agriculture Universities and KVKs on 43 crops. To test its efficacy around 11,000 farmer field trials (FFT’s) were undertaken on more than 94 crops across India. In the recent countrywide trials conducted on 94 crops, an average 8% increase in yield has been witnessed.
The IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid is developed to replace conventional Urea and it can curtail the requirement of the same by at least 50%. It contains 40,000 ppm of Nitrogen in a 500 ml bottle which is equivalent to the impact of nitrogen nutrient provided by one bag of conventional Urea.
The production of the IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid will commence by June of 2021. The commercial rollout will start soon thereafter. The IFFCO has priced Nano Urea at ? 240 per 500 ml bottle for the farmers which is 10% cheaper than the cost of a bag of conventional Urea. The Cooperative has planned a massive countrywide campaign exercise to demonstrate & train the farmers about its usage and application. It will be primarily available to farmers through its cooperative sales and marketing channels apart from its sale on IFFCO’s e-commerce platform www.iffcobazar.in.
Tarun Bhargava, Joint General Manager (Cooperative Relations) at IFFCO anchored the AGM successfully.
