Karnataka CM lays foundation stone of IFFCO’s Nano Urea plant in Bengaluru

New Delhi

The world’s largest fertilizer cooperative Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) Ltd, which had earlier introduced the world’s first Nano Urea Liquid, organized a ceremony on July 16 to lay the foundation stone of its Nano Urea plant in Bengaluru. The plant will cater to the needs of the South Indian markets.

The foundation stone was laid by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in the presence of Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers. The ceremony was held on the construction site of the upcoming plant at Hi-tech Defence & Aero Space Park, Devanahalli, Bengaluru on a 12-acre KIADB land plot allotted to IFFCO by the state government.

Bhagawanth Khuba, Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, was also present at the ceremony. Others present there included DV Sadananda Gowda, MP from Bangalore North; BN Bacche Gowda, MP from Chickballapur; Dileep Sanghani, Chairman, IFFCO; Dr US Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO; K Srinivasa Gowda, Director, IFFCO; and MN Rajendra Kumar, Director, IFFCO.

Nano Urea is a revolution in the field of agriculture. It will reduce storage space and expenditure while improving the yield. It is the greatest innovation in agriculture after the high-yielding seed technology of the 1970s that brought about the Green Revolution. This may well be called Green Revolution 2.0. It will be instrumental in reducing the imports and the subsidy burden on the government as it aims to reduce the consumption of the highly-subsidized traditional urea. It can be sprayed using drones. Nano DAP is also in the trial stage, and India is about to become self-sufficient in fertilizers.

Addressing the gathering, the chief minister thanked the Union government for choosing the state for this project. He likened granular urea to chemotherapy that causes collateral damage, saying that it pollutes the soil and water. He called Nano Urea "a farmers' friend" that saves them on the cost of transportation and storage space while helping them get better yield.

Dr US Awasthi, MD, IFFCO said, “The plant is expected to be completed in 15 months. Upon completion, it will produce nearly 5 crore bottles per annum (1.5 lakh bottles per day) for the farmers of Karnataka and South India, which is equivalent to 5 crore bags (22.5 lakh MT) of conventional urea. It also has benefits in terms of logistics and warehousing cost and it enables safe and clean, green environment, better soil health and farmers’ profitability.”

Dileep Sanghani, Chairman, IFFCO, said, “This step has been taken after inspiration from PM Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Sahakar se Samriddhi. IFFCO Nano Urea (Liquid) has been indigenously developed through the proprietary technology at IFFCO’s Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) in Kalol, Gujarat, in tune with Atmanirbhar Bharat and Atmanirbhar Krishi. This is a great leap forward in realizing PM Modi’s dream of doubling the farmers’ income. This will also be a great step for the cooperative sector as this innovation has been made by a farmers’ cooperative which has farmers’ interests at the core of its business philosophy. The profits will reach the farmers directly, benefiting them enormously.”