PM of India officially launched ‘Urea Gold’ fertiliser – basically urea fortified with sulphur, developed by the state-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF).Urea is a chemical nitrogen fertiliser, white in colour, which artificially provides nitrogen, a major nutrient required by plants.
Urea Gold is created by infusing urea with sulfur, creating a composite fertilizer with 37% nitrogen (N) and 17% sulfur (S).This nutrient blend serves two primary objectives: fulfilling sulfur requirements in Indian soils and enhancing nitrogen use efficiency (NUE).Note: Normal urea contains 46% of a single plant nutrient: Nitrogen or N.
Features
- Addressing Soil Deficiencies: Indian soils frequently lack sulfur, an essential element particularly crucial for oilseeds and pulses.By incorporating sulfur into the fertilizer composition, ‘Urea Gold’ aims to provide a comprehensive nutrient package, thus catering to the specific needs of crops reliant on sulfur.
- Enhancing Nitrogen Efficiency: A key innovation of ‘Urea Gold’ is its ability to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE).The sulfur coating on urea enables a gradual release of nitrogen, leading to prolonged nutrient availability.As a result, plants maintain their greenness for an extended duration. This phenomenon allows farmers to reduce the frequency of usage.Farmers tend to apply urea when they notice the leaves turning yellowish.
- Potential Yield Increase: ‘Urea Gold’ has the potential to increase crop yields through improved nutrient utilization.The gradual release of nutrients minimizes wastage and enhances the nutrient uptake by plants, ultimately translating into enhanced productivity.
Status of Consumption in India
- Urea is India’s most widely used fertiliser, with its consumption/sales rising from 26.7 million tonnes (mt) to 35.7 mt between 2009-10 and 2022-23.
Government Efforts to Reduce Urea Consumption in India
- The introduction of the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) regime in 2010.
- Under NBS, the government fixed a per-kg subsidy (unlike the earlier product-specific subsidy regime) for each fertiliser nutrient: Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S).
- It aims to promote balanced fertilisation by discouraging farmers from applying too much urea (46% N), di-ammonium phosphate (DAP – 46% P plus 18% N) and muriate of potash (MOP – 60% K).
- In 2015, the Centre made it mandatory to coat all indigenously manufactured and imported urea with neem oil.
- Consumption did dip in the initial two years, but that trend reversed from 2018-19.
- This was followed by replacing 50-kg bags with 45-kg ones in 2018, and the launch of liquid ‘Nano Urea’ by the Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) in 2021.
- Liquid nano urea is essentially urea in the form of a nanoparticle aimed at reducing the unbalanced and indiscriminate use of conventional urea, increasing crop productivity, and reducing soil, water, and air pollution.
- None of the above government measures for checking illegal diversion for non-agricultural use, increasing nitrogen use efficiency have failed in reducing urea consumption.