Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda  said, by 2023 India will be self-reliant in the production of fertilizers as  under “Atma Nirbhar  Bharat” programme new fertilizer manufacturing units are being setup  with  an investment of Rs 40,000 crore in the country to reduce dependency on import.

Shri Gowda was addressing  a webinar on “Self-Reliant India and Sustainable Agriculture ”organized by IFFCO for the farmers of Karnataka. He said, “As per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat vision to promote indigenous industries, we are converting all fertilizer companies to gas based technology. Recently we have revived four urea plants (Ramagundam, Sindhri, Barouni and Gorkhpur) in India. By 2023 we should become self –sufficient in the production of Fertilizers."

Union Minister informed that Government  is encouraging the production of organic and Nano fertilizers in the country as they are 25 to 30 per cent cheaper and give 18 to 35 per cent higher yield and keep the soil in good health. He lauded the IFFCO’s Nano experiment and called it a game changer. He informed that Nano fertilizers distributed freely to 12,000 farmers and agriculture universities across the country have given positive feedback.

Shri Gowda asked farmers to use Urea judiciously as excessive use of Urea may spoil the soil health. He advised  farmers to use fertilizers according to their soil health cards.

He praised the efforts of IFFCO, during the COVID pandemic period for not only keeping regular supply of fertilizers but also organising campaigns by distributing masks, sanitizers and hand gloves to mitigate the spread of COVID  . He also thanked other fertilizers companies and Railway department for playing important role in timely supply of fertilizer during the COVID pandemic period.

More than 1500 farmers from Karnataka took part in the Webinar through zoom. Managing Director IFFCO, Dr. U S Awasthi, Marketing Director Yogendra Kumar, IFFCO Karnataka marketing manager Dr. Narayanaswamy , agriculture scientists from University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore and other eminent dignitaries also  participated in the Webinar..

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RCJ/RKM