Nano urea potential

Source: This post is based on the article “Nano urea potential” published in Business Standard on 12th Jul 22.

Syllabus: GS3 – Industrial policy and growth

Relevance: Fertilizer sector in India and related issues, Nano Urea

News: The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers recently stated that India may not need to import urea after 2025, as domestic production of conventional urea and nano liquid urea supplies may be sufficient to meet the country’s demand.

Why India needs to reduce import dependence of fertilizers?

Currently, the global prices of Urea have soared to new highs and its availability has dwindled due to the Russian-Ukraine conflict and export cuts by China and other countries.

The international urea prices are currently ruling at their highest level since the 2008 food and financial crisis. So are, in fact, the prices of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers, for which the country’s reliance on imports is even higher than that for urea.

Due to India’s import dependence wrt Urea and phospatic and potassic fertilisers, India has to bear a huge subsidy burden. The fertiliser subsidy in the current fiscal year is projected to exceed Rs 2.5 trillion, surpassing last fiscal year’s record of Rs 1.62 trillion by a big margin.

Efforts for Urea self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency in urea has been on the cards ever since the introduction of the new urea policy in 2015. The policy focussed on a) maximising domestic output, b) promoting energy efficiency in urea manufacturing, and c) reviving the defunct fertiliser plants.

What is nano urea?

Nano-Urea is a new-generation urea, which condenses one bag equivalent of urea into a tiny bottle of 500 ml liquid. It has further speeded up the march towards shedding reliance on imports of Urea.

The cooperative sector fertiliser giant, IFFCO, must be given due credit for pioneering and promoting nano-urea technology, which has already proved its worth as a game-changer.

How can Nano-Urea help India become an exporter of Urea?

The production capacity of nano urea is likely to increase from the present 50 million bottles (each containing 500 ml liquid) to over 440 million bottles with the commissioning of the under-construction nano urea plants.

Moreover, the resurrected fertiliser plants at Ramagundam, Talcher, Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni, and a few new ones at other sites are also expected to begin producing to their full capacity.

Hence, many analysts believe that India should now be looking forward to exporting urea rather than importing it, by capitalising on its huge nano urea production potential.

The breakthrough in nano-technology has also opened up opportunities for the production of nano di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), which is the second-largest in consumption and highly import-dependent farm input.

This product, currently in advanced stages of development, is expected to bring down the cost of DAP by half.

With such developments being on the horizon, India may well be on the cusp of transmuting from a bulk importer to a net exporter of plant nutrients.

What are the advantages offered by nano products?

The significance of these innovations goes far beyond alleviating import-dependence for fertilisers. They offer multiple advantages, like:

– Cost reduction and supply augmentation

– Improvement in fertiliser-use efficiency

– Rise in farmers’ income.

– Enhanced nutrient consumption by plants: Studies have shown that while nutrient consumption by plants (nutrient-use efficiency) is only 25-30% in the case of conventional fertilisers, it rises to 90% for nano products. This helps  in pushing up crop yields perceptibly.

– Additionally, the use of nano urea and DAP helps reduce the soil, air, and water pollution attributable to chemical fertilisers.