Judicious Use of Fertiliser
Navratna company RCF Ltd. to create awareness amongst farmers about balanced use of fertilizers in Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra
In what is considered a laudable step, a leading Navratna status awarded company, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF Ltd.), with other fertilizer manufacturing companies, is participating in the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ (VBSY) campaign.
The aim of the nationwide campaign is to reach the benefits of the flagship schemes of the Government of India to the target beneficiaries.
In the agriculture sector, important information is being given regarding the balanced use of fertilisers to maintain the proper health of the soil by avoiding the excess use of chemical fertilisers along with the spraying of nano urea, nano DAP and other micronutrient fertilisers through advanced drone technology. RCF is trying to create awareness among the farmers’ community by conducting farmers’ meetings, soil testing, agricultural exhibitions and fairs, crop demonstrations etc.
Notably, the VBSY campaign was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on November 15, 2023 at Khunti district, Jharkhand on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.
This campaign is being implemented by various ministries under Government of India with the special participation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Fertilisers. This initiative has been started from all the tribal districts of India and will be continued till 24th January, 2024 all across India.
It may be noted that Judicious use of fertilisers refers to the application of fertilisers with good judgement by adopting right source, right quantity, correct method and best time of application suited for a specific soil-crop-climate situation.
Judicious use provides high yield, fertiliser use efficiency and profits, and also environmental pollution. The excessive use of fertiliser causes environment pollution such as nitrate pollution of groundwater, enrichment of nutrients in water bodies resulting in growth of aquatic plants, ammonia volatilization losses and acid rain due to release of other nitrogenous gases. The under dose of fertilisers reduces the yields and creates food insecurity. Hence, fertilisers must be used judiciously and more efficiently.
Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has always recommended judicious use of chemicals in agriculture. “The contribution of the chemical industry to Indian agriculture cannot be underestimated, but a balance has to be maintained to achieve sustainability,” he said once.
While the government is making all efforts to encourage organic farming, it is not easy to completely shift from the use of chemicals in agriculture. After all, the Green Revolution in India that started in the 1960s and boosted food production through the use of agrochemicals.
However, it also destroyed the agricultural ecosystem. Recently farmers and agricultural scientists have realised this and are eager to find other options like a non-chemical agriculture and have even revived their age-old traditional techniques of natural farming.
Scientists are doing research to find economically cheaper and ecologically safer replacements to agrochemicals. Blue-Green Algae and seaweed biofertilizers, Earthworm Vermicompost, biological control of pests like ladybugs; and natural biopesticides like neem products are showing promise. There is a “revolution” for alternative foods, which are more nutritious, cheaper and have shorter harvest cycles.
