Foundation stone for south India's first nano area plant to be laid today

The foundation stone for Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-Operative Ltds IFFCO Rs 350 crore nano urea liquid plant near here would be laid on Thursday.

The foundation stone for Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd's (IFFCO) Rs 350 crore nano urea (liquid) plant near here would be laid on Thursday. ''South India's first nano urea plant foundation will be laid in Bangalore on July 14 with an investment of around Rs 350 crore,'' IFFCO said. IFFCO said it has planned to set up another eight plants across the country with a capacity of 34 crore bottles (500 ml) per annum. The State government has allotted 12-acre Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) land near Devanahalli for the IFFCO's nano urea (liquid) project. ''We will complete this project within 15 months'', according to an IFFCO statement. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will lay the foundation stone for the nano urea liquid plant at Hi-Tech Defence and Aerotech Park, Naganayakanahalli in Devanahalli Taluk of Bangaluru Rural district.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya will be among those present at the function. On commissioning, this nano urea plant will produce nearly five crore bottles per annum for the farmers of Karnataka and South India which is equivalent to five crore bags (22.5 lakh MT) of conventional urea, IFFCO said.

IFFCO officials say a 500 ml bottle of nano urea (liquid) can effectively replace a 45 kg bag of urea. It has been priced ten percent lower than the conventional one bag of urea. It fulfills the national spirit of `Atmanirbhar Krishi & Atmanirbhar Bharat', it said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world's first nano urea plant in Gujarat. IFFCO has produced 4.5 crore bottles at the Kalol plant in Gujarat and marketed them across the country which has replaced 4.5 crore bags of conventional urea, the statement said.

IFFCO said its nano urea (liquid) has the potential to cut down the use of conventional urea, the most used Nitrogenous fertilizer, by 50 percent or more. Nano urea improves crop productivity, soil health, and nutritional quality of products and aims to address the imbalanced and excessive use of conventional urea fertilizer and also lets farmers achieve the twin benefits of higher crop yields at lower costs & better environment, it said.

The application of nano fertilizer is foliar and the spray of nanoparticles on the leaves results in a high yield. Hence, the soil does not get contaminated too. This reduces toxicity in soil and thus soil imbalance. Also, the release rate and pattern of Nano fertilizer are precisely controlled. Nano urea (liquid) is cheaper compared to urea and also it reduces the subsidy burden on the government considerably, IFFCO said.