{"id":119448,"date":"2021-10-21T17:31:53","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T00:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119448"},"modified":"2021-10-21T17:31:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T00:31:53","slug":"media-statement-by-federation-of-university-teachers-association-futa-action-committee-for-agriculture-on-nano-nitrogen-fertilizer-imported-from-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/10\/21\/media-statement-by-federation-of-university-teachers-association-futa-action-committee-for-agriculture-on-nano-nitrogen-fertilizer-imported-from-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Statement by Federation of University Teachers\u2019 Association (FUTA) Action Committee for Agriculture on Nano-Nitrogen Fertilizer Imported from India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rohan Laksiri General Secretary<\/em><\/span>
Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA).\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The government of Sri\nLanka recently imported liquid Nano-Nitrogen fertilizer from Indian Farmers\nFertilizer Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO). From an initial order of 3.1 million\nliters, 45,000 liters (90,000 bottles, each carrying 500 ml) have been\nairlifted on 19th October 2021 to Sri Lanka. We have learned that there are\nmany misconceptions being publicized in the mass media on this Nano-Nitrogen\nfertilizer. As a concerned group of agricultural professionals in the country,\nacademics attached to the Agriculture and Technology Faculties of State Universities\nin Sri Lanka, we wish to provide correct scientific facts about the imported\nfertilizer and express our views on this matter as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nano-Nitrogen\nfertilizer of IFFCO is a urea-based formulation where urea is coated with\npolymers to make nano-size particles. Therefore, this fertilizer is a synthetic\nchemical fertilizer, and not an organic fertilizer. The Nano-Nitrogen\nfertilizer is recommended to apply as a foliar spray and said to contain 4%\nNitrogen. This is rather a new product, which has very recently (2021 March)\nreceived approval for large scale production from the Ministry of Agriculture\nof India. Anyhow, nano-fertilizers are not accepted in organic agriculture in\nSri Lanka as indicated in the standard of requirements for organic agriculture\n(SLS1324:2018). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In media briefings\nconducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, we learned that three applications of\n2.5 L of this fertilizer at a time (i.e. 7.5 L in total) is adequate to provide\nrequired nutrients for the cultivation of one hectare of paddy crop. When\napplied at this rate, Nano-Nitrogen fertilizer would provide only 300 g of\nNitrogen per one hectare. In general, nearly 105 kg of nitrogen is taken up by\nthe paddy crop yielding 4-5 tons of grains per hectare. Accordingly, Nano-Nitrogen\nfertilizer should be applied at a rate of 1,250 L per hectare if it is the only\nsource of nitrogen added to the crop, which is an impossible task to be\nrealized within a cropping season.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their official\nwebsite, IFFCO has indicated that this Nano-Nitrogen fertilizer should be\napplied only as a top dressings along with a reduced rate of urea, while\nphosphorous and potassium sources are to be supplied in full rate as per the\nrecommendations. All research reports on this liquid fertilizer have recommended\nusing this fertilizer to fulfil only partial requirements of Nitrogen for crops\nand often used with 50% recommended dose of urea. Therefore, Nano-Nitrogen is\nmore appropriate to be viewed as a supplementary source of Nitrogen than a\nmajor nutrient source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spraying liquid\nfertilizer may not be practical for some crops unless the farmers have access\nto drone technology. This is because spraying large areas and taller crops such\nas maize and sugarcane is not practical with commonly used spray tanks. Moreover,\nthe effectiveness of these foliar fertilizers depends on the ground-cover by\nleaf area, weather conditions and application technology. Therefore, it is a\nnecessity to provide clear guidance to the farmers on correct application\nprocedures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context there\nis a serious question as to what should be recommended to the farmers in Sri\nLanka, as the sources of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium nutrients are\nlimited in the market with the recent ban imposed on importing synthetic\n\u2018chemical\u2019 fertilizer. It is important to note that the benefit of\nNano-Nitrogen cannot be realized when the crop suffers from nutrient\nimbalances. The Nano-fertilizer is applied at a much lower rate than regular\nurea fertilizer application mainly because it is a foliar spray. Applying the\nNano-Nitrogen fertilizer at high concentrations, in the absence of soil\napplication of Nitrogen fertilizer such as urea, could damage leaves.\nTherefore, the available option would be to have repeated application of\nNano-Nitrogen fertilizer at a lower dosage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that\nnano-fertilizers are more expensive than regular nitrogen fertilizers. Thus,\nconsidering the cost of the fertilizer and labor cost for application, the use\nof foliar fertilizers in a crop like paddy is expensive and will increase the\ncost of production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any fertilizer imported\nto the country needs to be tested following the accepted protocols prior to\ngiving approval for importation and after the shipment has arrived in order to\nassure quality and to avoid any negative impacts. Sri Lanka does not have\ndeveloped SLS standards for nano-fertilizers, yet. These standards should be\ndeveloped to assure quality of the product free of biurate-like toxic\nsubstances. Besides, recommendations should not be made in an ad-hoc manner\nwithout conducting any field investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, in the\neco-friendly \/ green agriculture concept, much attention is given to improve\nand regenerate soil fertility. However, foliar application of fertilizers will\nnot contribute to enhancing soil fertility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, while\nfailing to achieve higher crop yields, it is highly unlikely that the expensive\nNano-Fertilizer we have imported will help in realizing the objectives of\ngreen-agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rohan Laksiri\n\nGeneral Secretary
\nFederation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA). 

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rohan Laksiri General SecretaryFederation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA).\u00a0 The government of Sri Lanka recently imported liquid Nano-Nitrogen fertilizer from Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO). From an initial order of 3.1 million liters, 45,000 liters (90,000 bottles, each carrying 500 ml) have been airlifted on 19th October 2021 to Sri Lanka. We have learned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-chemical-fertilizer-ban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}