Context: During his visit to Gujarat, Prime Minister inaugurated the country’s first liquid nano urea plant at Kalol.

Liquid Nano Urea (LNU)

• Urea is chemical nitrogen fertiliser, white in colour, which artificially provides nitrogen, a major nutrient required by plants.
• LNU is essentially urea in the form of a nanoparticle.
• It 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.
• According to IFFCO, liquid nano urea contains 4 per cent total nitrogen (w/v) evenly dispersed in water.
• The size of a nano nitrogen particle varies from 20-50 nm. (A nanometre is equal to a billionth of a metre.)

Significance of LNU

• This patented product is expected to not only substitute imported urea, but to also produce better results in farms.
• Apart from reducing the country’s subsidy bill, it is aimed at reducing the unbalanced and indiscriminate use of conventional urea.
• It will help increase crop productivity, and reduce soil, water, and air pollution.

Key Benefits

Higher Crop Yields

• An average Yield increase of up to 8% has been recorded as per 11,000 field trials conducted across India during 2019-20??.
• Higher crop yields are observed due to enhanced chlorophyll and photosynthesis and increase in root biomass and several effective tillers /branches etc.?

Increase in Farmers’ Income?

• Nano Urea leads to an increase in farmers’ income due to: Reduction in Input Cost, Higher Crop Yield, Better Price because of the better quality crop.

Better Food Quality?

• The nutritional quality of harvested produce is better in terms of protein and nutrient content.
• Crops harvested using Nano Urea are safe for consumption.

Reduction in Chemical Fertilizer Usage?

• Nano Urea rationalizes the application of bulk nitrogenous fertilizers like Urea.
• Enhanced use efficiency of one bottle (500 ml) of IFFCO Nano Urea can potentially replace at least 1 bag of conventional urea.

Environment? Friendly?

• It is energy and resource-friendly.
• It reduces the excess application of bulk urea and associated volatilization as well as leaching and runoff losses.

Easy to Store & Transport

• Nano Urea has a significant impact in terms of relative logistics and warehousing costs.
• Farmers can easily carry bottles of Nano Urea physically over bulky Urea bags.
• Nano Urea increases its availability to crop by more than 80% resulting in higher Nutrient Use efficiency.
• Nano urea helps in minimizing the environmental footprint by reducing the loss of nutrients from agriculture fields.
• Nutrient loss is in the form of leaching and gaseous emissions which are used to cause environmental pollution and climate change.