Neem-coated urea: Ananth, Awasthi laud PM’s speech

Ministers, cooperators and CEOs have hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ speech on new urea policy in general and neem-coated urea in particular on the occasion of Independence Day.

The Union Chemical and Fertilizer Minister Ananth Kumar tweeted “ Thank you PM @narendramodi for highlighting  the achievements of the #MoCF on independence day #neem urea #urea #ureapolicy2015.”

IFFCO MD, the largest producer of neem-coated urea in the country Dr. U S Awasthi also welcomed Modi’s take on the issue and tweeted “ Proud 2 share dat #IFFCO produces 100% #Neem coated #Urea inline with #PM @narendramodi.#Farmers should use #Urea in balanced way @PMOIndia.”

One of the followers of Dr U S Awasthi associated with IFFCO’s Aonla unit while replying to Awasthi’s tweet said “In Aonla, we prepared neem oil system within 10 days with scrap as per your instructions.”

Speaking from the Red Fort Prime Minister touched upon the issue of neem-coated urea in an emphatic manner. He said that when urea is coated with neem it becomes useless for diversion to other industries – a malaise government has failed to curb so far.

Modi also referred to DBT in urea and assured that it would be done sooner than later. Readers would recall that the government aims to cut down fertiliser subsidy to the tune of Rs 4,829 crore over the next four years with the implementation of the New Urea Policy 2015 approved by the Cabinet in May ,2015.

The success of DBT in LPG has encouraged the govt to try it in fertilizer also. A pilot project is already going on to iron out the hiccups.