Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah launched IFFCO Nano DAP (Liquid) at New Delhi today on Wednesday. Several dignitaries including Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Gyanesh Kumar, and Chairman, IFFCO, Dilip Sanghani were present on the occasion. He lauded IFFCO for its efforts in coming up with revolutionary products such as Nano Urea and Nano DAP.
In his address, Amit Shah said that the launch of IFFCO Nano DAP (Liquid) product is an important beginning to make India self-reliant in the field of fertilizers. He said that this effort of IFFCO is an inspiration for all the national cooperatives to research and venture into new areas.
Shah said that the use of liquid DAP, through spraying on the plant, will help increase both the quality and quantity of production as well in conservation of the land. This will contribute a lot in restoring the fertility of land and will reduce the threat to the health of crores of Indians caused by the chemical fertilizers.
Shah appealed to farmers to use more effective liquid Nano Urea and DAP instead of granular urea and DAP. He said that the use of granular urea damages the land as well as the crop and the health of the people. He said that farmers have the maximum capacity to accept any new changes. The effect of one bottle of 500 ml on the crop is equivalent to that of 45 kg bag of granular urea, he added.
Due to it being a liquid, the land will be minimally contaminated by chemicals. Earthworms themselves work like a fertilizer factory when they are in good quantity. He said that by using liquid DAP and liquid urea, the farmers can increase the number of earthworms in their land and move towards natural farming without reducing production and income. This will also help in conserving the land. Shri Shah said that in a country like India, where 60 percent of the population is still associated with agriculture and its related businesses, this revolutionary step will take agriculture a long way in the coming days and make India self-sufficient in the field of food production and fertilizers.
Amit Shah said that 384 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizer is produced in the country, out of which cooperative societies produced 132 lakh metric tonnes. Out of this 132 Lakh metric tonnes of fertilizer, IFFCO has produced 90 Lakh metric tonnes. He said that cooperative societies like IFFCO, KRIBHCO have a huge contribution in India’s self-reliance in the fields of fertilizer, milk production and marketing.
He further added that instead of mass production, the main mantra of the cooperation is “mass production by masses”. It was believed that this mantra could not be successful after the decade of 1970-80, but, many cooperative societies like IFFCO, KRIBHCO and Amul have followed this mantra. Along with their professionalism in every field of cooperation, research, capacity and capability, they have kept the spirit of co-operative alive and have implemented it on the ground. He said that the biggest example and success story of a cooperative is that if today IFFCO earns Rupee 1, after the deduction of income tax, 80 paise goes directly to the farmers.
The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that after the introduction of liquid Nano DAP and liquid Nano Urea, due to the efforts of IFFCO, the first Nano DAP (Liquid) has been launched in the world today. He said that IFFCO has registered a patent, under which IFFCO will get 20% royalty on the sale of Liquid Urea and Liquid DAP anywhere in the world for 20 years which is revolutionary step. Shri Amit Shah said that IFFCO has done extraordinary work in taking scientific research to the agriculture fields through ‘Lab to Land’ approach.
In this series, cooperative society IFFCO has commissioned three urea plants in a single year. The Union
Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had given approval to Nano Urea on February 24, 2021 and today in 2023 the infrastructure to make about 17 crore Nano Urea bottles has been set up. Marketing of Nano Urea started in August 2021 and about 6.3 crore bottles have been manufactured till March 2023. Due to this, the consumption and import has been reduced by 6.3 crore urea bags and helped in saving the country’s revenue and foreign currency. This is a very revolutionary step and a great success story.
The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Minister said that the import of urea in the country has also decreased by seven lakh metric tonnes in 2021-22. He said that a goal has been set to reduce the usage of granular DAP by about 90 lakh metric tons through liquid DAP. 18 crore liquid DAP bottles will be produced in the country. Shri Shah said that potato growing farmers of Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh used about 8 bags of DAP per acre of land, which increased the production but polluted the land and the farm produce.
He said liquid DAP contains 8 per cent nitrogen and 16 per cent phosphorous. Its application will help reduce usage of granular urea by about 14% and that of DAP initially by 6% and later by 20%. It will lead to saving in foreign exchange reserves of the country, improvement in plant nutrition and 100% availability of nutrients in the soil. Along with this, there will be a reduction in the expenditure incurred by the farmers, that of around 6% in wheat and about 20% reduction in the production of potato and sugarcane. This will not only improve the fertility of the land, but will also be beneficial for the health of the consumer.
Shri Amit Shah said that during the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi constituted the Ministry of Cooperation to revive, strengthen and to make the cooperative sector dynamic. We are bringing many changes in the cooperative sector. Shri Shah said that in order to strengthen the cooperative sector, the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) will have to be strengthened first. For this, the Ministry of Cooperation has decided that in the next 5 years, new multi-dimensional PACS will be created in 2 lakh panchayats of the country. For these, 32 different types of services like dairy, arrangement for giving agricultural loans to farmers, fishermen cooperative, IFFCO dealership, fair price grains shop, common service center, water management committee will be identified.
Shah said that the model bye-laws of PACS have been sent to the states and 17 states have also adopted these model bye-laws. He said that under the Multidimensional PACS, a single PACS would be created by combining four PACS providing multi-usage services, fisheries, providing financial loans to farmers and dairy. This will rejuvenate the PACS and also help improve their income.
The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that 80% of the people in India are associated with cooperatives and we are going to make it multi-dimensional in true sense. IFFCO has used its experience and confidence to take forward this entire cooperative movement which is necessary to strengthen the cooperative sector.
IFFCO has focused on expansion of distribution network, enhancement of digital transactions, diversity and stability in product portfolio, capacity building and R&D. Shri Shah said that the Government of India has formed three multi-state co-operative societies related to organic products, seeds and exports, in which IFFCO is a leading investor and all these three societies will benefit from the experience of IFFCO.
