IFFCO to set up urea plant in Karnataka soon: Minister

Karnataka-run Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) would soon set up a nano urea production plant at Devanahalli near the Bengaluru airport for the benefits of farmers, said Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister D.V. Sadanada Gowda on Saturday.

“IFFCO will be given land near the city airport soon to set up the plant to produce nano urea to improve soil health and enhance crop productivity,” said Gowda at an event here.

Gowda, who hails from Karnataka, is a two-term Lok Sabha member from the Bengaluru North constituency.

Flagging off a consignment of nano urea from the multi-cooperative society’s plant at Kalol near Ahmedabad from here at a virtual event, Gowda said the truck was carrying nano urea in 16,600 bottles of 500ml for use to cultivate kharif crops across the southern state.

“The fertiliser in liquid form is easy to carry and use by farmers, as a bottle of 500ml nano urea is enough for spraying twice in an acre of farmland,” he said.

Priced at Rs 240 per bottle, 500ml of liquid urea is equivalent to 45kg of the same in powder form and is eco-friendly, ensuring higher crop yield.

“As a game-changer, nano urea in liquid form will trigger a revolution in agriculture, as it is equivalent to 45kg in powder form and will help keep the soil fertile,” the Minister added.

In the cooperative sector, IFFCO is setting up two more nano urea plants at Aonla and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh.

“We plan to set up 4 more nano urea plants in phase-2, including one in Karnataka to produce 28 crore bottles of 500ml per year for distribution to farmers across the country,” Gowda said.

Of the 330-lakh tonnes of urea consumed per year in the country, 90 lakh tonnes are imported to meet the shortage.

“When nano urea production is increased manifold, fertiliser import will reduce proportionately and save the central government Rs 16,000 crore as subsidy per annum,” he added.

IFFCO Managing Director U.S. Awasthi, who was present on the occasion, said the Kalol plant was producing 6,750 tonne-equivalent of urea daily.

“We are dispatching one truck with 15,000 bottles of nano urea per day. The production will be increased 10-fold to transport in 10 trucks per day,” said Awasthi.

The Kalol plant has begun trial production of nano diammonium phosphate (DAP) to reduce its imports substantially.

Nano urea has been tested at 11,000 locations for 94 crops by 20 Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes and state agricultural universities across the country.

“Results showed that nano urea is useful in increasing crop yield with nutritional quality,” added Awasthi.