Import of urea will ease by 2025

Subject: Economy

Section: Agriculture

Concept :

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Manukh Mandaviya, proposed a special package worth ₹3.7 lakh crore for farmers to address unbalanced fertiliser use in the country.
The nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratio should ideally be 4:2:1, but it currently stands at 8:3:1.
The imbalance in soil health has led to saturated production and interconnected issues of soil, human, animal, and environmental health.
The scheme aims to promote overall health by addressing the imbalances caused by excessive fertiliser use.
The balanced use of fertilisers is crucial for steady production, food security, and supporting farmers.
There are no plans to completely stop the consumption of chemical fertilisers, but the country is gradually transitioning towards natural and organic farming.
The government aims to end urea import dependence by 2025 and replace it with nano urea and other alternatives.

Conventional Artificial Urea

Urea is a white crystalline organic chemical compound. It is the most important nitrogenous fertiliser in the country because of its high N content (46%N).
Urea consists of Nitrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen. Formula: CH₄N₂O
Besides its use in the crops, it is used as a cattle feed supplement to replace a part of protein requirements.
It has also numerous industrial uses notably for production of plastics.
Uses of Urea
- As fertilizers as it increases the yield of crops
- As animal feed additive.
- as a cleaner; hair removal creams and dish soaps
- in the fermentation industry
- as a refrigerant
- neutralize pollutant
- in textile industries
- as a fuel for rocket engines
- manufacture of synthetic fibre like rayon and nylon
- in creams/ointments
- manufacturing melamine.

The only regulated Fertilizer

Urea is the only fertilizer at present with pricing and distribution being controlled statutorily by the Government.
The Central Govt. pays subsidy on urea to fertiliser manufacturers on the basis of cost of production at each plant and the units are required to sell the fertilizer at the government-set Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
Thus, no one can sell urea above the MRP declared by the Govt. Under the Concession Scheme, the MRP for each fertilizer is indicative in nature.

Nano Urea

It is urea in the form of a nanoparticle. It is a nutrient (liquid) to provide nitrogen to plants as an alternative to the conventional urea.
It is developed to replace conventional urea and it can curtail the requirement of the same by at least 50%.
It contains 40,000 mg/L of nitrogen in a 500 ml bottle which is equivalent to the impact of nitrogen nutrient provided by one bag of conventional urea.
It is Indigenous Urea, introduced firstly by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) for farmers across the world.
The first Liquid Nano Urea (LNU) plant is inaugurated at Kalol, Gujarat.

Significance

The excess conventional urea causes an environmental pollution, harms soil health, and making plant more susceptible for disease & insect infestation, delayed maturity of the crop & production loss.
Nano Urea Liquid makes the crops stronger, healthy and protects them from lodging effect.
It will lead to reduction in Global Warming
It will improve the quality of underground water by polluting it less.
It will cut down post harvesting costs and increase farmers’ income.