Karnataka, 14 Sept (KNN) Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Sunday said that India will be self-reliant in the production of fertilizers by 2023 as under “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” programme, new fertilizer manufacturing units are being setup with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore in the country to reduce dependency on import.

Addressing a webinar on “Self-Reliant India and Sustainable Agriculture ”organized by IFFCO, he said, “As per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat vision to promote indigenous industries, we are converting all fertilizer companies to gas based technology. Recently we have revived four urea plants (Ramagundam, Sindhri, Barouni and Gorkhpur) in India. By 2023 we should become self –sufficient in the production of Fertilizers."

Union Minister said that Government is encouraging the production of organic and Nano fertilizers in the country as they are 25 to 30 per cent cheaper and give 18 to 35 per cent higher yield and keep the soil in good health. He lauded the IFFCO’s Nano experiment and called it a game changer. He informed that Nano fertilizers distributed freely to 12,000 farmers and agriculture universities across the country have given positive feedback.

More than 1500 farmers fr0m Karnataka took part in the Webinar through zoom. Managing Director IFFCO, Dr. U S Awasthi, Marketing Director Yogendra Kumar, IFFCO Karnataka marketing manager Dr. Narayanaswamy, agriculture scientists fr0m University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore and other eminent dignitaries also participated in the Webinar.