Nano urea fast tracked for approval despite incomplete trials

Three seasons of independent assessment by the ICAR is required for approving a new fertiliser.

Nano-urea, a product developed by the Indian Farmers and Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) and heavily advertised by government as panacea to reduce farmer dependence on packaged urea is yet to be fully tested despite having been fast tracked for commercial application. Normally, three seasons of independent assessment by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is required for approving a new fertiliser, but in the case of nano urea this was reduced to two. Moreover scientists are still unclear if the product can on its own cut farmers’ dependence on urea.

Nano urea is a patented and indigenously made liquid that contains nanoparticles of urea, the most crucial chemical fertiliser for farmers in India. A single half-litre bottle of the liquid can compensate for a 45kg sack of urea that farmers traditionally rely on, it is claimed.

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Fertiliser Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya has claimed that by 2025, India’s domestic urea production as well as that of nano-urea would together mean India would be “self sufficient,” in the manufacture of urea -the most important fertiliser for India’s farmers-- and would no longer require the 90 lakh tons that it imported every year and would save the country close to ₹40,000 crore.

The standard practice when sowing crops such as wheat, rice, mustard is to use at least two 45-kg sacks of urea, an inorganic compound and the crops’ main source of nitrogen. The first is applied during the early sowing or transplantation stage of the crop. The second stage application is done when the plant has sprouted a canopy of leaves, and is approaching the reproductive phase of plant growth.

However, a crucial point omitted in government communication around nano urea is that the traditional, packaged urea is still necessary during the initial stage, as basal nitrogen, of crop development. The nano urea could be useful once the plant grew after which the product could be sprayed on its leaves.

“Based on the experiments that were conducted, what was evident that 50% of the top-dressed urea (second stage application) could be replaced but not basal nitrogen,” Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, former Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) told The Hindu, “In most cases yields weren’t affected and some instances the crop yield increased. But we need observations for more years.”