Maslow’s principle of self-actualization was at work when IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi said “Advent of Nano fertilizers at farm-level would be a grand finale to my professional career,” Awasthi was talking to this reporter and the conversation being unstructured, allowed his subterranean thoughts to come to the surface.
Explaining Nano and its implications in greater details, IFFCO MD who is known for his penchant for innovative technology said “the farming that you see today would not be there as the arrival of Nano at the fields would lead to a Paradigm Shift”.
Having acquired the global patent for Nano under its belt, IFFCO and India would be the first to have a Nano fertilizer factory in the world. Interestingly, Awasthi disclosed that Nano is not only going to impact Indian agriculture but also agriculture across the world. It is an idea– novel and new which the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been talking about in different sectors of economy for improving the life of the people in the country, said the MD.
A chemical engineering graduate from IIT-BHU, IFFCO MD turned nostalgic and said that the choice of IFFCO as a place to work with was not accidental. “It was a conscious decision as I knew I would get here a chance to serve the wider mankind. IFFCO has the potential to impact everyone’s life and I had the chance here to exploit my potential to the fullest”, Awasthi was almost echoing Maslow who said exploiting one’s potential to the fullest is at the top of the inverted pyramid of needs.
Also, ever since I joined IFFCO I refused going to the award ceremony. It is now several years that I have been to any such function, though organizations and institutions do keep nominating me for this or that award, said Awasthi. “Realizing my dream of handing over Nano to farms and farmers for the benefit of posterity would be my highest award”, he stated.
Responding to a query as to when his dream would actually be visible on the ground, IFFCO MD said “I am aware that farmers across the country are looking for the field trials of IFFCO Nanotechnology based products in their fields and I think by next Kharif farmers would be able to use these on a mass scale. Awasthi keeps tweeting pics showing progress of Nano during the field trials. He recently tweeted a picture of the same from a village in Sirsa, Haryana.
It is being said that these nanostructured formulations will reduce the requirement of conventional nitrogen chemical fertilizers by 50%, deliver nutrition to the plant in an environmentally sustainable manner and be available to the farmers at reduced costs.
Meanwhile, IFFCO’s range of nano fertilizers launched for field trials, are showing encouraging results from various parts of the country and these products were simultaneously launched from several places from across the country.
The Nano products have been researched and developed indigenously at the IFFCO Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) in the Kalol Unit. Recently, IFFCO launched another Nano lab in its Aonla unit.
IFFCO also signed an MoU with Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) this May at IARI, Pusa, New Delhi. The MoU is supposed to offer an unprecedented opportunity of research in the field of Nano fertilizers to develop concentrated sources of plant nutrients having higher-absorption rate, utilization efficacy, and minimum losses.
