AMN / NEW DELHI
Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda has asked farmers to reduce excessive use of Urea, which he pointed out, is spoiling the soil health. He was speaking at a webinar on Self-Reliant India and Sustainable Agriculture organized by IFFCO for the farmers of Karnataka today. He called upon farmers to use fertilizers based on soil health cards.
Saying that efforts are on to reduce dependency on import of Urea, he informed that by 2023 India will be self-reliant in the production of fertilizers. The Union Minister also added that under Atmanirbhar Bharat programme new fertilizer manufacturing units are being started at an investment of 40,000 crore rupees. Saying that the government is encouraging the production of organic and nano fertilizers, he informed that nano fertilizers distributed freely to 12,000 farmers and agriculture universities across the country have given positive feedback.
The nano fertilizers are 25 to 30 per cent cheaper, have resulted in 18 to 35 per cent higher yield and kept the soil in good health. The Minister said that the production of nano fertilizers will be increased. He blamed black marketing for creation of artificial scarcity of Urea in the state. The fertilizer dealers, agents and distributors’ godown and outlets were raided and the licenses of 48 distributors were cancelled for black marketing.
During the webinar held today, around 1,500 farmers had attended the live telecast on YouTube and Facebook today.