World’s First Liquid Nano Urea Plant in Gujarat

First Liquid Nano Urea Plant: Relevance

• GS 3: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices.

Nano urea plant in India: Context

• Recently, PM has launched the country’s first liquid nano urea plant at Kalol, Gujarat not only to substitute imported urea, but to also produce better results in farms.

What is liquid nano urea?

• It is urea in the form of nanoparticle. Urea is a chemical nitrogen fertiliser, which artificially provides nitrogen, a major nutrient required by plants.
• It has been developed at IFFCO’s Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) at Kalol.
• Liquid nano urea is sprayed directly on the leaves and gets absorbed by the plant.
• Fertilisers in nano form provide a targeted supply of nutrients to crops, as they are absorbed by the stomata, pores found on the epidermis of leaves.
• IFFCO advises that 2-4 ml of nano urea should be mixed a litre of water and sprayed on crop leaves at active growth stages.

Benefits of liquid nano urea over urea

• While conventional urea has an efficiency of about 25 per cent, the efficiency of liquid nano urea can be as high as 85-90 per cent.
• Apart from reducing the country’s fertiliser subsidy bill, it is aimed at reducing the unbalanced and indiscriminate use of conventional urea, increase crop productivity, and reduce soil, water, and air pollution.
• Liquid nano urea has a shelf life of a year, and farmers need not be worried about “caking” when it comes in contact with moisture.

Nano urea liquid IFFCO

• In 2021, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) launched the Nano Urea Liquid, a nutrient to provide nitrogen to plants as an alternative to the conventional urea.
• IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid was developed to replace conventional urea and it could 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

Nano urea fertilizer: Why important

• India is the second-largest consumer of urea in the world but only the third-largest producer. 
• India is dependent on imports to meet its urea requirements.
• During 2019-20, the production of urea was only 244 LMT (lakh metric tonnes) as against the consumption volume of 336 lakh metric tonnes leaving a gap of over 91 LMT.

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