Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:
(a) the details of total production of urea during the year 2015-16 in the country;
(b) whether the Government has made it mandatory for domestic fertilizer companies to neem coat their entire production of urea and if so, the details thereof: and
(c) whether the Government has conducted any research on neem coated urea and if so, details of the result thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS
(SHRI HANSRAJ GANGARAM AHIR)
(a): Sector-wise details of total production of urea for the year 2015-16 are given below:-
(Figure in’ LMT’)
Public Sector Co-operative Sector Private Sector Total
70.80 69.36 104.59 244.75
(b): Yes, Madam. Department of Fertilizers, Vide notification dated 25th May 2015 has made it mandatory for all the indigenous producers of urea to produce 100% of their total production of subsidized urea as Neem Coated Urea (NCU).
(c): Research carried out by Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi indicated increase in the rice grain yield by 6.3% to 11.9% with the application of neem coated urea (NCU) over normal urea. Usually, NCU may reduce consumption of urea by 10-15%. As far as environment is concerned, use-efficiency of normal prilled urea is 30% (Paddy crop) to 50% ( Wheat crop) i.e. 50-70% urea is lost by volatilization/ leaching resulting into air/ groundwater pollution . In case of NCU, this loss is significantly reduced by about 10-15%.
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