Assam: In A First, Drones Used To Spray Nano Urea Fertiliser in Pakhiajhar

In a bid to keep the agricultural sector more robust and updated, the Assam state Agricultural department supported by the district administration of Sonitpur launched a hi-tech facility of manuring in crop fields called ‘Nano Urea’ project in the Pakhiajhar area under Bindukuri Panchayat on September 13. 

The first of its kind in the State, introduced in the Sonitpur district, the project was formally launched on Tuesday afternoon by DC, Sonitpur, and Deba Kumar Misra at a brief function.

The programme was held under the initiative of Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART), Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) and BCCS and in collaboration with Sonitpur District Agricultural Department, ICCOA and ‘Bindukuri Mojia Agricultural Producer Unit’ was attended by director, North East Farm Machinery Training Center Dr P P Rao, District Development Commissioner, Utpal Bora, deputy director, IFFCO, Dev Pal, Food Processing director of  Beyer Company, Nandini Mandal, District Agricultural officer, Pankaj Saikia among others.

Use of the ‘Nano Urea’ in crop fields through the help of Drone exhibited as an experiment in the area was followed by a training programme also among the local farmers.

It needs mention here that when sprayed with the help of drones within six to eight minutes over 3 bighas of crop field can be covered easily entering on leaves through stomata and other openings and is assimilated by the plant cells.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while inaugurating a Nano Urea production plant at Kalol, Gujarat on May 28, said, “…a small bottle (500 ml) of Nano Urea is equivalent to one 50 kg bag of granular urea currently used by farmers”.

IFFCO’s Nano Urea contains nitrogen, an element critical for plant development, in the form of granules that are a hundred thousand times finer than a sheet of paper. At this ‘nano’ scale, which is about a billionth of a metre, materials behave differently than in the visible realm.

Speaking on the occasion, the director, of North East Farm Machinery Training Center Dr P P Rao said that for the use mechanism in the crop field the hi-tech drone would be available from January 2023 and the KVKs would get it free of cost while the farm units would get the chance of purchasing the system at 80 per cent discount.

What is a nano urea liquid?

Nano urea liquid is a nanotechnology-based fertilizer to increase the growth of crops by restoring nitrogen to plants as an alternative to conventional urea. It enhances the nutritional quality and productivity of the crop along with improving the underground water quality. 

Conventional Urea, a chemical fertiliser, is used to artificially fulfil the nitrogen need of the plant while Nano urea liquid is developed to replace the former and cut down its requirement by 50%.