Benefits of Nano-fertilizers by Parliamentary Standing Committee
Recently the report “Nano-fertilizers for sustainable crop production and maintaining soil health” has been released.
The benefits of using nano-fertilizers have been highlighted in this report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. Also, the report also suggests ways to promote the use of nano-fertilizers.
Prior to this, IFFCO had developed nano-technology based fertilizers (Nano Urea and Nano DAP).
IFFCO has also developed Nano Fertilizer Macronutrient Grades (Nano Nitrogen) and Secondary / Micronutrient Grades (Nano Zinc, Nano Copper, Nano Boron, Nano Sulphur) etc.
Benefits of nano-fertilizers –
- Price Benefits: Lowers the input cost of farming for the farmers.
- High efficiency: For example, the efficiency of Nano Urea is 85 – 90 percent. On the other hand, the efficiency of conventional urea is only about 25 percent.
- It ensures comparatively higher crop yield. On an average, 8 percent higher crop yield was achieved with the use of nano-fertilizers.
- The use of nano-fertilizers will significantly reduce urea imports, government subsidies, logistics and storage costs.
- Will help in achieving sustainability in agriculture sector.
- This will be possible due to the use of nano-fertilizers, increasing the absorption capacity of nutrients in crops, reducing water consumption and reducing environmental damage.
Key recommendations of the report:
- Nano-fertilizer should be produced by both public and private sector companies.
- Production of nano-fertilizers should be brought under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
- Long-term agreements should be made with countries rich in raw materials used in fertilizer production. In addition, joint venture plants should also be set up with them.
Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO)
- It is a multi-state co-operative society. It was established in 1967.
- It is the country’s largest cooperative society and the country’s largest fertilizer manufacturer.
- IFFCO’s market share is around 29% in case of Complex Fertilizers and around 19% in case of Urea.
Source – Down to Earth
