Neem coated urea

The government has introducted 100% Neem Coating on all subsidized agricultural grade urea in the country in order to increase the nutrient efficiency, crop yield, soil health and check the diversion of agricultural grade urea for non-agricultural activities.

Background

Urea has been one of the most important chemical Fertilizers for our crops and has been one of the instrumental factors in the increase in food grain production of the country.

Urea is a white crystalline substance with the chemical formula NH₂-CO-NH₂; it is highly water soluble and contains 46% nitrogen. It is used extensively as chemical fertilizer as well as for industrial uses. 

In order to help farmers, procure urea at reasonable prices, Government of India supplies urea at a determined retail price which is much lesser than the cost of production or cost of import of urea. Every year the government spends more than Rs. 50,000 crores to ensure that the farmers are able to get urea at affordable prices. There were findings and reports that a lot of urea applied by farmers to the crops was getting wasted leading to low nutrient efficiency, water and soil contamination and wastage of highly subsidized urea. Apart from this there was diversion of the highly subsided agricultural urea to chemical industries and nonagricultural practices. This resulted not only in wastage of precious subsidies but also occasional shortage of urea for genuine farmers. 

Solution

It was also well known that world over different chemical inhibitors had been used as coatings over urea grains and prills to reduce the rate of release of urea into soil so as to increase nutrient efficiency, crop yield, lessen wastage as well as reduce soil and water contamination. Neem oil, a wholly organic product, is one such inhibitor which had the quality that could both slow down nitrogen release from urea to soil thus increasing nutrient use efficiency, decreasing soil and water contamination and also reducing appreciably  the chances  of diversion of agricultural grade urea for many non-agricultural uses. In case of India, instead of chemical inhibitors, use of organic neem as coating of urea was more beneficial. Until 2014 only around 25 percent of the entire urea produced in the country was neem coated. 

It was with this background that in 2015, the Government of India took a transformational decision to introduce 100 % neem coating on all subsidized agricultural grade urea in the country. All the indigenous and imported urea were neem coated so as to make the urea slow release and difficult to use for non-agricultural purposes.  Since 2015, the entire urea supplied to more than 140 million farmers of the country i.e about 340 lakh metric tonnes urea per year, has been neem coated successfully. 

Benefits

• Reduction in wastage - The initial evaluation of the program by third party institutions shows that urea usage has become more efficient and wastage and diversion has decreased. 
• Improved Soil Health, reduced costs, increased yield - The application of neem coated urea has resulted in not only improvement in soil condition but also in reduction in costs with respect to plant protection chemicals for farmers. It has also resulted in increase in yield of major crops. All these have contributed significantly towards increase of farmer’s income.
• No Shortage of Urea- Significant increase in Urea Production - There has been no major incidence of shortage of urea in the last five six years in any part of the country

Other value additions

• Hygroscopicity Reduced: Neem-coated urea is lesser hygroscopic compared to prilled urea so chances of forming lumps/cakes in bags are reduced.
• Solubility Reduced: Neem coated urea is slightly less soluble compared to prilled urea so chances of leeching loss in excess field moisture or during rainfall also reduces.
• Volatility Reduced: Due to coating of neem oil over urea prills, volatilization loss due to direct exposure to sun is also reduced when neem-coated urea is applied to soil.
• Nitrate Leeching Reduced: Nitrifying Bacteria present in soil convert Ammonical Nitrogen to Nitrate Nitrogen which is highly soluble in water and easily leach to lower depth of soil beyond the reach of crop roots. Neem-coated urea kills these bacteria and nitrate formation is checked hence no nitrate losses happens.
• Denitrification Reduced: In case of poor drainage and aeration conditions particularly in case of Paddy crop, Nitrate Nitrogen is reduced to Nitrogen gas and escape to atmosphere. When neem-coated urea is used, little or no nitrate is formed hence no chances of de-nitrification losses.
• Powder Formation Reduced: Powder formation occurs during manufacturing, transportation & handling of prilled urea. Under FCO 20% powder is permissible but due to light weight powder is generally blown away by wind while applying in field hence results in wastage or reduce NUE of urea. Neem coated urea due coating of neem oil, restrict the action of friction of urea prills and hence reduces formation of powder which adds to increase the Nitrogen use efficiency. 

Source : KRIBHCO

Source : Department of Fertilizers