Cases / Agriculture, livestock and food · India · 2021–2026
IFFCO sells nano urea under a fertiliser subsidy; a Punjab trial reported lower yields
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
India's fertiliser subsidy costs about 1.88 lakh crore rupees a year, 75 percent of it for urea. The cooperative IFFCO markets nano urea as an alternative, and a two-year independent trial at Punjab Agricultural University reported lower wheat and rice yields.
What?
IFFCO markets nano urea as a substitute for bulk urea, which the state subsidises; a Punjab Agricultural University trial reported lower yields Down To Earth
Where?
India, with the subsidy nationwide and the trial in Punjab Down To Earth
When?
Nano urea marketed from 2021; trial over two years
Who?
Gained
- IFFCO — markets nano urea; the sources give a sales figure of 5.44 crore bottles
Lost
- Indian taxpayers and farmers — fund a subsidy of about 1.88 lakh crore rupees a year, about 75 percent of it for urea Down To Earth
Harmed
- Wheat and rice growers, per the Punjab trial — wheat yield down 21.6 percent and rice yield down 13 percent under nano urea; grain protein lower Down To Earth
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
A state subsidy on urea, alongside IFFCO's sale of nano urea as a replacement product Down To Earth
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
IFFCO, a cooperative whose chairman Dileep Sanghani is a former Gujarat agriculture minister, markets nano urea; the company says a 500 ml bottle replaces a 45 kg sack of urea.
A two-year independent trial at Punjab Agricultural University found wheat yields down 21.6 percent and rice yields down 13 percent under nano urea, with grain protein also lower and nitrogen costs about ten times higher (Down To Earth).
The fertiliser subsidy is about 1.88 lakh crore rupees a year, about 75 percent of it going to urea (Down To Earth).
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Disputed Reported but not verified: the claim that a 500 ml bottle replaces a 45 kg sack is the company's and the government's; the trial result is presented as contradicting it.
- None on record The source of the 5.44 crore bottle sales figure is not given.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not say whether the subsidy rose or fell after 2021.
- None on record The sources reviewed give no link for the prime minister's opening of the nano urea plant, and cite no second independent trial.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
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