Farmers say input costs went up, but no benefits like increased crop production
A farmer can spread traditional granular urea in a few hours over the entire farm. Photo for representation: iStock Nano liquid urea’s promises of increasing farm yields have fallen short, with farmers reporting no effect of the fertiliser on the crops. Its use has, conversely, increased input costs as farmers said they must spend money to spray it on the farmland.
The specialised fertiliser urea was developed in 2021 by Indian Farmers and Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO). Urea is one of the most concentrated nitrogenous fertilisers and is vital for farming.
Azad Fauji (60) of Bhatgaon in Sonipat, Haryana said a farmer can spread traditional granular urea in a few hours over the entire farm. However, farmers must hire and pay for a tank to use the nano liquid urea.
“Nano urea is costing farmers dearly. We have to spend at least Rs 40 per bigha for a 25 litre tank to spray nano urea mixed with water,” he said.
About 4 millilitres of the liquid fertiliser must be mixed with a litre of water. A 500 ml bottle is used up for five bighas of farmland. The cost of hiring a tank at Rs 40 per bigha to get it sprayed is an added cost for farmers.
The cost of a 45 kilogramme bag of conventional urea is around Rs 250 for farmers and a 500 ml bottle of nano urea used to cost Rs 240, before it was reduced to Rs 225.
The cost difference adds up while paying for spraying the nano liquid urea, said Pawan, a 19-year-old farmer from Bhatgaon.
“Each bigha of farmland will require a tank worth of sprays. With the labour costs, the price of using a bottle of nano liquid urea comes to around Rs 440, making it twice as expensive as conventional urea,” the farmer said.
The cost of nano liquid urea was brought down by Rs 15 in the first week of November 2022 during the Rabi crop season. Even at the reduced price, the tank-hiring costs make nano liquid urea costlier than the subsidised conventional fertiliser.
Untimely heavy rains in the last two months have worsened the conditions. Farmers said crop production has been hit by up to 30 per cent due to the rainfall. The added costs of spraying the fertiliser have significantly increased the burden.
Pawan told Down To Earth he spent Rs 11,925 for sowing wheat seeds on his five bigha, or one acre, farmland, which included an additional Rs 200 on spraying nano liquid urea.
“I expected a high yield of 25 quintals but could harvest just 17.5 quintals. In 2022, the production was higher at 20 quintals. So I faced a loss of 0.5 quintals per bigha,” he said.
At the rate of Rs 2,100 per quintal, Pawan earned just Rs 36,750. However, if there had been no loss, his earning could have gone up to Rs 52,500. There were no benefits of using the nano liquid urea on crop production, he added.
Pawan earned less than Rs 25,000 in one crop season — which is about six months — meaning about Rs 50,000 annually.
Satyaveer (60), from Bali village in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, said he was compulsorily handed a bottle of IFFCO’s nano urea every time he bought subsidised granular urea from cooperatives.
“I did not see any significant difference in crop production after using the nano liquid urea. I would use conventional urea if I wasn’t handed the bottle forcefully,” he said.
When asked about the issue, IFFCO said it had not entered into any agreement with the cooperative societies. “We do not have any policy nor are we forcing the sale of nano liquid urea. We only give incentives to our staff and society for its higher use,” IFFCO replied.
However, farmers in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, also reported being given bottles of nano liquid urea along with subsidised conventional urea through cooperatives.
A report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers in March 2023 quoted the Prime Minister as saying that specially urea, has gone down by half.
Nano liquid urea will never completely replace conventional urea, said JK Nandal, retired principal scientist from Kisan Vigyan Kendra, Sonipat. “To a large extent, nano liquid urea will be able to contribute only 15 to 20 per cent of its share in the total urea,” he said.
It is also important at what stage the farmer uses it, he added. “Nano liquid urea is effective only if it is used when the leaves come up in crops,” Nandal said.
The scientist was vague about claims of nano urea increasing crop yeild but pointed out there has been a slight rush to introduce the fertiliser in the market.
This report is part of a series on nano urea.
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