A farmer can unfold conventional granular urea in just a few hours over the whole farm. Photograph for illustration: iStock Nano liquid urea’s guarantees of increasing farm yields have fallen short, with farmers reporting no impact of the fertiliser on the crops. Its use has, conversely, elevated enter prices as farmers mentioned they need to spend cash to spray it on the farmland.
The specialised fertiliser urea was developed in 2021 by Indian Farmers and Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO). Urea is likely one of the most concentrated nitrogenous fertilisers and is important for farming.
Azad Fauji (60) of Bhatgaon in Sonipat, Haryana mentioned a farmer can unfold conventional granular urea in just a few hours over the whole farm. Nevertheless, farmers should rent and pay for a tank to make use of the nano liquid urea.
“Nano urea is costing farmers dearly. We have now to spend a minimum of Rs 40 per bigha for a 25 litre tank to spray nano urea combined with water,” he mentioned.
About 4 millilitres of the liquid fertiliser have to be combined with a litre of water. A 500 ml bottle is used up for 5 bighas of farmland. The price of hiring a tank at Rs 40 per bigha to get it sprayed is an added price for farmers.
The price of a forty five kilogramme bag of typical urea is round Rs 250 for farmers and a 500 ml bottle of nano urea used to price Rs 240, earlier than it was decreased to Rs 225.
The fee distinction provides up whereas paying for spraying the nano liquid urea, mentioned Pawan, a 19-year-old farmer from Bhatgaon.
“Every bigha of farmland would require a tank price of sprays. With the labour prices, the value of utilizing a bottle of nano liquid urea involves round Rs 440, making it twice as costly as typical urea,” the farmer mentioned.
The price of nano liquid urea was introduced down by Rs 15 within the first week of November 2022 in the course of the Rabi crop season. Even on the decreased value, the tank-hiring prices make nano liquid urea costlier than the subsidised typical fertiliser.
Premature heavy rains within the final two months have worsened the circumstances. Farmers mentioned crop manufacturing has been hit by as much as 30 per cent as a result of rainfall. The added prices of spraying the fertiliser have considerably elevated the burden.
Pawan instructed Down To Earth he spent Rs 11,925 for sowing wheat seeds on his 5 bigha, or one acre, farmland, which included a further Rs 200 on spraying nano liquid urea.
“I anticipated a excessive yield of 25 quintals however may harvest simply 17.5 quintals. In 2022, the manufacturing was greater at 20 quintals. So I confronted a lack of 0.5 quintals per bigha,” he mentioned.
On the price of Rs 2,100 per quintal, Pawan earned simply Rs 36,750. Nevertheless, if there had been no loss, his incomes may have gone as much as Rs 52,500. There have been no advantages of utilizing the nano liquid urea on crop manufacturing, he added.
Pawan earned lower than Rs 25,000 in a single crop season — which is about six months — that means about Rs 50,000 yearly.
Satyaveer (60), from Bali village in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, mentioned he was compulsorily handed a bottle of IFFCO’s nano urea each time he purchased subsidised granular urea from cooperatives.
“I didn’t see any important distinction in crop manufacturing after utilizing the nano liquid urea. I might use typical urea if I wasn’t handed the bottle forcefully,” he mentioned.
When requested in regards to the challenge, IFFCO mentioned it had not entered into any settlement with the cooperative societies. “We wouldn’t have any coverage nor are we forcing the sale of nano liquid urea. We solely give incentives to our workers and society for its greater use,” IFFCO replied.
Nevertheless, farmers in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, additionally reported being given bottles of nano liquid urea together with subsidised typical urea via cooperatives.
A report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemical compounds and Fertilisers in March 2023 quoted the Prime Minister as saying that specifically urea, has gone down by half.
Nano liquid urea won’t ever utterly change typical urea, mentioned JK Nandal, retired principal scientist from Kisan Vigyan Kendra, Sonipat. “To a big extent, nano liquid urea will be capable to contribute solely 15 to twenty per cent of its share within the complete urea,” he mentioned.
It is usually necessary at what stage the farmer makes use of it, he added. “Nano liquid urea is efficient solely whether it is used when the leaves come up in crops,” Nandal mentioned.
The scientist was imprecise about claims of nano urea rising crop yeild however identified there was a slight rush to introduce the fertiliser out there.
This report is a part of a collection on nano urea.
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