The leading cooperative of the country IFFCO has strengthened its
commitment for Indian farmers by ensuring long term supply of raw
material of Phosphatic Fertilisers.

The world’s largest manufacturer and marketer of processed fertilizers in cooperative sector announced the signing of a Long Term Agreement with the Brazilian mining giant Vale SA for the supply of Rock Phosphate.

The LTA was signed by Mr.K.L.Singh, Director (Technical) of IFFCO and
Mr Roberto, Director Commercial of Vale, SA.

According to the agreement, the Rock Phosphate will be supplied from
Bayovar mines which are located in the Piura province of Peru.

Almost 90% of Phosphate demand of India is met through imports. India
ranks the largest importer of Phosphate globally.

Talking to Indian Cooperative Dr U S Awasthi, Managing Director of
IFFCO said that this LTA will be key to long term assurance for
phosphate fertiliser raw materials to Indian agriculture aiding to
increased food grains production.

“This is a step towards backward integration strategy of IFFCO in
order to strengthen its Phosphate sourcing for the manufacturing of
Phosphatic Fertilizers in India. Our commitment to farmers is always a priority” he added.

There are no deposits of Phosphates in India and country’s entire
Phosphate requirement is imported. IFFCO have two complex fertilizer
plants in India at Kandla and Paradeep. The DAP, NPK, NP plant at
Paradeep is world’s biggest complex fertilizer plant which is hailed
as world’s largest phosphoric acid plant with capacity of 2650 MT per
day of 100% P2O5

Fertiliser major IFFCO’s Paradip Unit in Odisha has been awarded the prestigious “Kalinga CSR Award — 2011” by the Renowned “Odisha state safety conclave“.

The unit has won the award for exemplary work undertaken in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility activities in Odisha, Iffco sources said on Sunday.

This award was received by S K Gandhi, Senior General Manager and Unit Head of the unit from Odisha Governor, M C Bhandare, at a function on September 14, they said.

After receiving this Prestigious Award, Sri SK Gandhi, Sr. General Manager of IFFCO, Paradeep Unit told that this Prestigious Award is the recognition to the dedicated team of IFFCO, Paradeep Unit.

He further stated that Paradeep Unit of IFFCO is committed for overall safety of the Plant and all its employees and IFFCO shall continue to make efforts to further improve CSR activities in and around Paradeep in the days to come.

-PTI

U S Awasthi Managing Director of Iffco has said India’s fertilizer major has decided to export fertilizers to the countries in South Asia. It has already sold more than 15 thousand tonne of DAP to Nepal.

As fertilizer is in the negative list of export, it has sought permission from India government to sell crop nutrients to Oman in the Middle East.

A sharp reduction in domestic demand for fertilizers caused by a weak monsoon explains why Iffco is intent on exporting its products.  The company has a huge stock of DAP and NPK and it feels it can do a good amount of export.

According to Awasthi, Oman has always helped India with supplies of urea, India should reciprocate by supplying crop nutrients to meet Oman’s needs now.

Awasthi  claimed the fertilizer industry faces a crisis in that domestic  demand for  DAP and NPK  has   fallen by 29 and 27 percent respectively. Iffco alone has suffered a staggering drop of 32 percent in DAP sales and 44 percent in NPK sales, he added.

Excerpts of condolence letter written by IFFCO Managing Director Mr U S Awasthi to Mrs.Molly Kurien on the demise of cooperative genius Mr Verghese Kurien

Dear Mrs. Kurien,

I express my heartfelt grief on passing away of Dr. Kurien, the father of the white revolution and the founding father of the great cooperative institution AMUL.

He will always be an inspiration to the cooperative institutions like ours and our 40,000 cooperative members and 5.5 crore members. We will always miss the presence of the great soul, a pioneer, who believed in the strength of the cooperative movement.

Dr. Kurien not only proved to the world that cooperatives can be successful business entities which truly symbolizes the idea of ‘inclusive business practices’ but he showed to the world the power of rural India and the power of the Indian farmer.

AMUL led by Dr.Kurien, in a way epitomizes the power of ‘one for all and all for one’, in bringing white revolution.

This helped the Institution like IFFCO in ushering the green revolution. Both these noble cooperative institutions stood for a vision with compassion to become a symbol of successful Indian cooperatives. Dr.Kurien, was a noble soul behind the above idea.

On the behalf of entire IFFCO family, I once again pray to God to give peace to the spirit of this noble soul and may his guidance and ‘Aashirwad’ continue to guide us on the righteous path.

With kindest regards.

Yours sincerely,
(U.S.Awasthi)

IFFCO’s ’Shri Lal Shukla Memorial Sahitya Samman’ for the year 2012 will go to the distinguished Hindi writer Shri Shekhar Joshi.

The award would be presented at Lucknow in October this year. A committee of Hindi literary luminaries headed by Rajendra Yadav the editor of the esteemed Hindi monthly ‘ Hans’ has nominated Shri Joshi for the award.

The award was instituted by the fertilizer cooperative giant IFFCO in the memory of the great Hindi novelist and writer Shri Lal Shukla in the year 2011. Shri Lal Shukla’s literary creations such as Rag Darbari and some of his other works received national acclaim.

The award is given in recognition of the literary works depicting the authentic life of rural India.  Shri Shekhar Joshi has authored a number of critically appreciated short stories in this genre.

The first Srilal Shukla Memorial IFFCO Sahitya Award was given to Vidya Sagar Nautiyal by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in Delhi last year.

The award carries an amount of Rs.5.51lakhs and citation.

IFFCO Managing  Director  U.S. Awasthi  has  congratulated  the workers  of the company’s  Paradip   fertiliser  plant in Odisha on producing a record 3000 tonnes of phosphoric acid in a single day on August 12. Mr Awasthi described it as an achievement that merits the highest appreciation.

Harshvardhan, IFFCO’s Communication Manager in Delhi confirmed the news. The unit would produce a total of 18.48 lakh tonnes this year. There are several difficulties facing the Paradip unit yet the plant would achieve its target, noted a source.

The Paradip plant is quite successful in that it yields a huge amount of additional revenue selling gypsium hydro fluorosilicate acid and giving its surplus power to Grid Corporation of Odisha.

Proving once again that it is a cooperative with a difference, cooperative giant IFFCO has decided to honour winners of the London Olympics in boxing and wrestling.

Talking to Indian Cooperative its Managing Director U S Awasthi said that IFFCO salutes the Indian Olympic contingent and announces the cash awards of Rs 10 lakh for Sushil kumar for winning a silver medal and Rs 7 lakh for both Yogeshwar Dutt & Mary Kom for annexing bronze medals for the country in the London Olympics.

IFFCO as the country’s largest organization of the fertiliser cooperatives representing rural India supports rural sports without qualification.

IFFCO also announces a cash award of Rs 2 lakh for the Wrestlers who participated in London, Dr Awasthi added.

A Cash award of Rs 5 lakh has also been announced for the coaches of Sushil Kumar and Mary Kom. IFFCO as the organization of farmers had always supported rural sports at all levels. It was great that rural sports had done the Indian nation proud in the Olympics, Dr Awasthi concluded.

The finale of the international cooperatives conference was witnessed in the NCUI auditorium in the capital on Thursday. CEO of NCUI Dr. Dinesh’s opening remarks set a tone for the discussions that followed during the conference.

There was a galaxy of speakers drawn from the cooperative world on the dais and a huge appreciative audience willing to listen to them. Indeed there was a perfect milieu for discussions.

Dr. Bijendra Singh Chairman NAFED chaired the first session that began with Jaya Arunachalam president Indian Cooperative Network for Women, Chennai presenting a highly nuanced discussion on the issue of women empowerment. Dwelling on the subject at length, among other things she appealed to the cooperatives to devise the ways and means of enabling Indian women to assert themselves and their point of view in the country’s current scheme of things.

Mrs Jainuddin from Malaysia discussed the role of the cooperative organisations in encouraging and promoting gender eqality. She said the govt in Malasia have brought in such policies as have given preference to women in the field of health and child health, thus implementing the basic principles of cooperative.

Mr. Prakash Lonare presided over the second session where H.K. Patil president NAFCUB lamented the horrible conditions of the cooperative banks. He pointed out the importance of the cooperatives in the context of the paradigm shift sweeping the country’s economy.

J N Srivastava former secretary govt of india emphasised the critical role of the human resources factor in the context of the development of the cooperative institutions. He strongly advocated a rapid and optimal technologisation of the cooperative sector.

R.K. Tiwari joint secretary and Central Registrar of cooperatives dwelt on the importance of appropriate policies in strengthening the Indian cooperative sector during this session. Describing the conference as a milestone, he underlined the crucial role of the cooperative sector in the country’s economic transformation.

Suresh Prabhu former Union Minister praised the UNO for observing the current year as the international year of cooperatives. He called for the application of the cooperative principles in empowering the masses. He said with the help of the cooperatives poverty could be greatly reduced and the poor would not get poorer and the rich would not get richer.

Roby Tulus former Regional Director ICA Asia-pacific shed light on the necessity and role of the cooperatives in the presentday world. According to him, the role of the cooperatives in the changing global economy needs to be adequately valued.

The two day conference had deliberations & brain storming sessions on challenges for cooperatives, corporate governance in cooperatives, new initiatives required by cooperatives to strengthen the socio-economic structure of nations, community development & women empowerment. International issues such as food security, education & development of cooperatives in Asia-Pecific region. The conference was attended by delegates from China, Japan, Korea, Srilanka & Mauritius. Top representatives from national level cooperatives like NAFED, KRIBHCO, NCUI, NCDC and NABARD shared their views during the conference. The conference was in line with global celebrations for International Year of Cooperatives 2012 announced by UN.

Dr. U. S Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO expressed his happiness and applauded the role of cooperatives in community & nation building. He assured that IFFCO is committed to the farmers of India and it will keep on surpassing its previous records to emerge as the global leader in both the production as well as marketing of fertilizers. He also said that IFFCO will keep on serving the farmers at their best and will try to bring new innovations for serving the rural & farming community in India.

The conference was concluded by closing remarks from Sh. Charan Das Mahant, Minister of State for Agricluture & food processing.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar did not pull any punches in his criticism of the cooperative sector in India. He called for reorganization of cooperatives as independent professional organizations so that they could play their legitimate role in achieving the goal of inclusive economic development in the country.

In his had hitting speech at the international cooperatives conference organized by cooperative giant IFFCO , Pawar said the ordinary people are disillusioned with the cooperative sector and it is high time the cooperatives cleaned up their act.

According to Pawar, there is no alternative to good and efficacious governance and the lack of honesty and efficiency could easily ruin the cooperative sector.

Pawar added India’s cooperative movement is big with a network of lakhs of units and about 25 crore people involved in this institutional network. The cooperatives are at work in various fields exercising their influence on the country’s economic growth. Their contribution in the field of agriculture is widely acknowledged.

The minister showered an unqualified praise on IFFCO for its important role in promoting the growth of cooperative institutions across the country.

Pawar, among other things, described the landmark constitutional amendment making right to form a cooperative society a fundamental right, amendment of the multi-state cooperative societies act and formulation of a national policy on cooperatives as steps that would give a fillip to the cooperative movement in India.

IFFCO has won against Hindalco Industries in the court.  The Delhi High Court recently ruled that Hindalco’s refusal to accept the arbitral award is untenable.

The dispute had arisen when IFFCO said it was not receiving supply of phosphoric acid from Hindalco as per the MOU.

The Hindalco counter-accused that IFFCO was not abiding by the MOU.

The matter was referred to a three member tribunal that had given a decision in favour of IFFCO.

The high court upholding the tribunal’s view marks IFFCO’s legal win over the Hindalco Industries.