Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah performed the Bhumi Pujan and laid the  foundation stone of IFFCO Nano DAP (Liquid) Plant at Gandhidham, Gujarat, today. On this occasion, several dignitaries including Chairman, IFFCO, Shri Dileep Sanghani, were also present.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set a target of making 15 crore farmers of the country prosperous with the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samridhi’ by forming the Ministry of Cooperation. He said that the upcoming plant at Gandhidham would produce more than IFFCO's existing plant producing 3 million tonnes of DAP. Union Minister of Cooperation said that liquid fertilizer is going to give multi-dimensional benefits to the country's economy and agriculture sector. Spraying of Nano DAP (liquid) will not pollute the land, which will further ease the natural farming, increase soil fertility along agricultural production and will promote the land conservation.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that IFFCO DAP (liquid) does not go inside the ground, but remains on the top of the crop, due to which not only the benefits of DAP become available to the crop, but the land is also preserved. DAP (Liquid) will not pollute water, increase production, keep price affordable, reduce government subsidy burden and reduce imports to make India self-sufficient in the field of urea and DAP. Congratulating IFFCO for this important initiative, he said that IFFCO has not only introduced Nano Fertilizer for the first time in the world, but it will be very helpful in achieving the goal of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to make India self-reliant in the Fertilizer sector.

Shri Amit Shah said that when fertilizers are available in the right quantity and at the right price, then the farmers become more prosperous. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Modi, this country once again needs a green revolution, but this green revolution will be of a different type and its goal will not be just production. Shri Shah said that the days are gone when we had to import wheat and rice from other countries. Today, due to the hard work of our scientists, the continuous efforts of many governments and the scientific planning of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the last nine years, India has become self-reliant in the field of food. Union Minister of Cooperation said that in the new green revolution, India will have to show the way of natural farming to the world and for this green revolution of natural farming is required. He said that such type of green revolution has to be brought so that farmers get more value for their produce and they can get maximum yield per acre. Along with this, the green revolution will help in exporting the organic products of Indian farmers to all over the world and will make India more prosperous.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that in order to realize the Prime Minister Modi’s vision of “Sahkar Se Samridhi”, Ministry of Cooperation has formed three multi-state cooperative societies and these three societies will fulfill these three goals. He said that first Multi-State Cooperative Society will promote and modify the seeds, preserve the old seeds and work to increase the yield per acre of the farmer. The second Multi State Cooperative Society will buy agricultural products from farmers and export them. Shri Shah said that many farmers have turned to natural farming to save Mother Earth, but they have two major problems. The first problem is that due to lack of certification, people do not consider their product as organic and second, even if they do, no one wants to pay a good price for it. Today there are many people in the country who want to buy organic food, vegetables, wheat, rice, pulses and oil at a good price, but there is no system for its certification and marketing. He said that the government has formed a multi-state cooperative society for the marketing of organic products, which will certify the land and produce and buy organic produce from the farmers. These products will be sold in the countrywide market with a good brand and attractive packing and the profit will be directly deposited in the bank account of the farmer. Shri Shah said that the third Multi State Cooperative Society has been formed for exports. This multi-state cooperative society will become an export platform to take the products of even the smallest farmer to the world market and the profit from this will not remain with the society but will go directly to the bank account of the farmers.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that IFFCO has not borrowed a single rupee from the bank for the plant which will be set up in Gandhidham at a cost of about Rs. 350 crore on 70 acres, IFFCO has 100 percent equity in it. He said that IFFCO's equity means 4 crore farmers' equity as IFFCO's money goes back to the farmer through PACS and rest through cooperative societies. He said that from this plant 2 lakh nano urea bottles of 500 ml each would be sent across the country and the world, which would reduce the import of 60 million bags of urea and India would become self-relaint in the field of fertilizer. He said that this would also save fertilizer subsidy of about Rs.10,000 crore, which would come back to the farmers, it will also save foreign exchange of about Rs. 3,500 crore. Shri Shah expressed confidence that the production of liquid DAP will start in this factory within a year. This plant has been built on the basis of zero liquid discharge, which will protect the environment and reduce the cost of fertilizers.

Shri Amit Shah said that the cooperative sector has become a strong pillar of the country's agricultural revolution in the production and sale of fertilizers and today this pillar has become even more stronger. He said that Prime Minister Modi has brought changes in every sector from Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) to Apex to realize the mantra of “Sahkar se Samridhi” and the biggest change is to make PACS multidimensional. Now PACS can open fertilizer shop, cheaper price medicine shop, fair price grain shop and petrol pumps. Now PACS can also become Common Service Center (CSC) and Bank Mitra. Along with this, now PACS can also form Dairy and Fishermen Committee. Shri Shah said that Modi government is strengthening the structure of agri-finance and agri-distribution through PACS, which will make the cooperative sector the centre of the new green revolution in the country.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that the government has also brought the world's largest storage scheme for food grains under PACS. With this, all the wheat required at the fair price grain shop of the Tehsil can be purchased from the Tehsil, can be stored in the Tehsil and from there the wheat will go to the village. With this, thousands of crores of rupees will be saved on transportation and the Food Corporation of India will also pay the rent to PACS for food storage. He said that now there are many opportunities for the youth in PACS and information about all these initiatives is available on the website of the Ministry of Cooperation. Shri Shah appealed to all the farmers to keep the PACS alive and take them forward. He said that the government has set a target of making 3 lakh new PACS in the next 5 years, which will further strengthen the agricultural finance and agricultural produce distribution system.

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RK/AY/AKS