Successful field trial of Drone spraying of Nano Urea

• A practical field trial of Drone Spraying of Nano Liquid Urea was conducted in Bhavnagar, Gujarat.
• The trial was attended by a large number of farmers.
• This demonstration of spraying liquid nano urea by drone was undertaken by IFFCO, a company involved in developing nano urea.

Nano Liquid Urea:

• The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) introduced the world's first Nano Urea Liquid for farmers across the world.
• 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.
• IFFCO had conducted around 11,000 farmer field trials (FFT’s) on more than 94 crops across India to test the efficacy of nano urea.
• The trials had shown an average 8% increase in yield.

Benefits:

• It curtails the requirement of urea by at least 50%.
• Nano urea liquid is significant as its use by farmers will boost balanced nutrition programs by reducing the excess use of Urea application in the soil.
• This will help make the crops stronger, healthier and protect them from the lodging effect and it will lead to improvement in crop productivity and nutritional quality.
• The conventional urea is 30-40% effective in delivering nitrogen to plants while the effectiveness of the Nano Urea Liquid is over 80%.
• The Nano Urea Liquid will be cost-effective as it will be cheaper. This will help in increasing farmers’ income.
• It will also enhance soil health.
• Nano Urea Liquid will have a positive impact on the Quality of underground water, reduction in global warming with an impact on climate change and Sustainable development.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO):

• It is one of India's biggest cooperative societies which is wholly owned by Indian Cooperatives.
• It was founded in 1967 with just 57 cooperatives, today it is an amalgamation of over 36,000 Indian Cooperatives with diversified business interests ranging from General Insurance to Rural Telecom apart from its core business of manufacturing and selling fertilisers.
• Its objective is to enable Indian farmers to prosper through timely supply of reliable, high quality agricultural inputs and services in an environmentally sustainable manner and to undertake other activities to improve their welfare.