Nano Urea Allowed for Commercial Use

Table of Contents

What is Nano Urea?

Nano Urea is a patented and indigenously made liquid that contains nanoparticles of urea, the most crucial chemical fertilizer for farmers in India.
Nano Urea is a chemical nitrogen fertilizer, white in colour, which artificially provides nitrogen, a major nutrient required by plants. Nano Urea also forms 82 per cent of the total nitrogenous fertilizers consumed 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.
- Nano Urea liquid is expected to potentially replace 13.7 million tonnes of conventional urea usage by 2023.
IFFCO Nano Urea is the only Nano fertilizer approved by the Government of India and included in the FCO, 1985. It is developed and Patented by IFFCO.

To ensure adequate availability of right quality of fertilizers at right time and at right price to farmers, the Fertilizer was declared as an Essential Commodity and Fertilizer Control Order (FCO) was promulgated under Section 3 of Essential Commodities Act,1955 to regulate, trade, price, quality and distribution of fertilizers in the country.
The enforcement of this Order has primarily been entrusted to State Governments.

High efficiency: While conventional urea is effective just for 30-50 per cent in delivering nitrogen to plants, the effectiveness of the Nano Urea liquid is over 80 per cent.
In the case of conventional urea, a lot of nitrogen is washed away during irrigation and most of the nitrogen is vaporized or lost as gas. Whereas Fertilizers in nano form provide a targeted supply of nutrients to crops and liquid Nano Urea is sprayed directly on the leaves and gets absorbed by the plant.
Minimal impact on environment: Unbalanced and indiscriminate use of conventional urea leads to leaching thereby soil contamination and water pollution. Also volatilization of urea causes emissions of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere — leading to air pollution and global warming.
Increases farmers income: The trials with Nano Urea have shown around an 8% increase in the crop yield. Also it will lead to reduction in input costs.
Higher shelf life: Liquid Nano Urea has a shelf life of a year, and farmers need not be worried about “caking” when it comes in contact with moisture.

The usual practice for recommending (or rejecting) a new fertilizer for commercial use required three seasons of independent assessment by the ICAR, but in the case of Nano Urea this was reduced to two.
Nano Urea has been provisionally notified under Fertilizer Control Order (FCO), 1985 based on encouraging results and feedback received from ICAR and State Agricultural Universities.
The Cooperative IFFCO had launched Nano Urea in liquid form as an alternative to conventional urea in June 2021. IFFCO has set up manufacturing plants to produce Nano Urea and is also selling in the market.