IFFCO claims may lead to large-scale yield losses with serious consequences for food security and livelihood of farmers, says opinion paper
A farmer from western Uttar Pradesh with a bottle of nano liquid urea. Photo: Vivek Mishra / CSE A recent opinion paper has questioned the scientific authenticity of nano liquid urea produced by The country’s largest fertiliser manufacturer Indian Farmers and Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO). Nano liquid urea was launched two years ago and was touted as a better substitute for traditional granular ones.
However, the paper, Is India’s largest fertilizer manufacturer misleading farmers and society using dubious plant and soil science? published in journal Plant and Soil, found the fertiliser has no or poor scientifically proven effects.
It also called for more studies into the efficacy and mode of action of other nano fertilisers before they are launched on the markets.
Read more: Nano fertilisers: Parliamentary report suggests close audit of field trials to see long-term effects
A four-part report by Down To Earth looked into how nano liquid urea performed on field and found spraying the fertiliser was spiking input costs for farmers with no noticeable results.
The opinion paper, published on July 25, 2023, was authored by Max Frank, a researcher at department of plant and environmental sciences, University of Copenhagen in Denmark and Søren Husted, a professor at the University of Copenhagen.
The researchers also raised doubts about the quality and properties of nano urea based on the available scientific evidence in the paper and compared the claims with the existing scientific literature from well-reputed journals.
IFFCO scientists did not even meet the basic requirement of keeping a clear and well-defined reference point to state yield improvements in response to a specific form of fertilizer application, the authors further said.
The paper said:
The product [nano liquid urea by IFFCO] is promoted with misleading and wrong statements about its efficiency as a fertilizer, plant uptake pathways and environmental friendliness. With the doubts about the effect of nano urea in mind, the price of the product seems excessively high.
Read more: Union Budget 2023: Foundation for sustainable farming is missing in India
IFFCO had earlier claimed a 250-gram foliar spray nano urea bottle containing only 20-gm nitrogen is equivalent to a 45-kilogram bag of conventional urea with 21 kg nitrogen.
However, the authors questioned it, saying that if this were the case, the nitrogen in nano urea would increase the nitrogen-use efficiency of crops by 1,000 times compared to conventional urea.
The central government and IFFCO have also made plans this year to open 10 new factories to increase the production of nano urea, the researchers said. By 2025, its annual production capacity would be increased to 440 million and it will be exported to 25 other countries, mainly in Asia, Africa and South America.
While advertising the product, the Cooperative claimed there is scientific evidence that nano urea will lead to higher crop yield and also reduce environmental impact. These claims were also repeated for nano zinc, nano copper and nano di-ammonium-phosphate.
“The expectations raised by IFFCO are far from reality and may lead to large-scale yield losses with serious consequences for food security and the livelihood of farmers. At the same time, the confidence in innovative sustainable products as well as the science behind them may be threatened,” the authors concluded.
Read more: Fertiliser industry to make $57 billion in profits this year as farmers, govts grapple with the bill
Based on the available scientific evidence regarding foliar spray nano fertilisers, the fertiliser was unfairly marketed with false claims, the paper further stated. There is no scientific claim about its good effect on the environment, it added.
Nitrogen is an essential compound for the growth of crops. However, human activities have also created many environmental problems due to excess nitrogen, which is causing climate change, acidification in the oceans, excess nitrogen in lakes and ponds, ozone depletion, and extinction of species diversity, the study said .
The scientific community continues to reiterate that global human-caused increases in nitrogen cycling have crossed planetary boundaries, making it necessary to control its excess. However, nano fertiliser is a questionable compound whose behaviour is not yet known, the researchers further stated.
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