Gandhinagar, May 28 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at IFFCO, Kalol at ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’ programme in Gandhinagar.
The Prime Minister, in his address, talked about the revolutionary changes that the use of nano urea will bring for farmers in the coming times.
“Just imagine the strength of one sack of urea is compressed into one half litre bottle of nano urea. How much transportation cost will it reduce and benefit our farmers. This will be such a huge support for our small farmers,” he said.
The ultramodern Nano Fertiliser Plant has been established, keeping in mind the increase in crop yield through the use of Nano Urea. The plant, built at a cost of around Rs 175 crore, will produce about 1.5 lakh bottles of 500 ml urea per day.
“The capacity of the plant at Kalol is to produce 1.5 lakh bottles. But in coming times, eight more such plants are going to be established in the country,” added the Prime Minister.
He said the technology driven nano-urea plants in the country will be able to reduce India’s import dependence and help farmers by reducing logistics costs.
“We have also worked on re-starting composting plants across the country. The UP and Telangana plants are already operational. Soon, the country will achieve ‘aatmanirbharta’ in fertilisers,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that India imports urea from foreign countries, in which a 50 kg bag of urea costs Rs 3,500, but the same urea bag is given to farmers for only Rs 300.
“The government bears a load of Rs 3,200 on each bag of urea. We have tried to face all the difficulties, but not let our farmers suffer,” he added.
He said despite several challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic, the government ensured availability of fertilisers to the farmers.
“Despite the global increase in prices of phosphate-based fertilisers, we have tried to make sure that the increase in prices does not affect our farmers,” he added.
“After the formation of the government in 2014, we did 100 per cent neem coating of urea. This ensured that the farmers of the country get adequate urea,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that India is the second biggest consumer and third biggest producer of fertilisers.
“Seven-eight years ago, the majority of urea could not reach our farms and was destroyed in black marketing. Urea factories were shut because of lack of new technologies…We started the work to restart five closed fertiliser factories in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Telangana,” he said.
Modi said the example of the cooperative model of the dairy sector is before the country. He said that dairy sector is the major reason behind prosperity in villages.
“India is the world’s largest producer of milk, in which Gujarat has a huge share. Dairy sector has been growing rapidly over the years and is also contributing more to rural economy. The cooperative model of the dairy sector is a great example in front of us.
“Through this model, India has become the largest dairy producer in the world, with production worth Rs eight lakh crore,” he said.
The sector is majorly driven by women and small famers in the country, he said, adding that 70 lakh women of Gujarat have been the biggest contributor in the dairy sector.
“The strength of cooperatives, especially women working in them, can be seen through how Lijjat Papad and Amul have become a globally renowned brands,” the Prime Minister added.
More than 7,000 representatives from various cooperative institutions of the state participated in the Seminar.
