Parliament Question: Adverse impact of Nano Urea on production

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1627 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 13/02/2026 ADVERSE IMPACT OF NANO UREA ON PRODUCTION

1627. SHRI YERRAM VENKATA SUBBA REDDY:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) the details of use of Urea and Nano Urea in the country since introduction of Nano Urea, year-wise, State-wise;

(b) the manner in which Government looks at the recent research conducted by Punjab University where it concluded Nano Urea is no match to conventional Urea since use of Nano Urea resulted in reduced production and also protein content has come down;

(c) whether it is a fact that DAP, Zinc and Nano Urea+ introduced by Government are also no match to conventional Urea; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the plan of action Government has with regard to Nano Urea? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a): The details of sale of the Urea and Nano Urea in the country since introduction of Nano Urea (i.e. year 2021-22), year wise, State-wise are at Annexures I & II respectively.

(b) to (d): The experiment conducted by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana on Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) Nano Urea during 2020-2024 along with on farm trials at 17 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of PAU and 10 farmers’ fields, did not support the claims regarding yield improvement or nitrogen use efficiency with the use of nano urea.

However, based on the bio- efficacy trials at multiple locations by ICAR institutions and State Agriculture Universities (SAUs) and bio-safety test results, Government of India had provisionally notified Nano Urea as Nano Nitrogen Fertilizers in Fertilizer Control Order (FCO),

1985. These experimental trials of Nano Urea were conducted on different crops such as paddy, wheat, mustard, maize, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, capsicum and onion in different agro-climatic zones. The study indicated that two spray of nano urea as top-dressing alongwith recommended basaldose of nitrogen gave comparable yield to that obtained with full recommended dose of nitrogen with yield advantage of 3-8% and urea saving of 25-50% in various crops. Similarly, the Government on the basis of positive result of crop trials conducted in SAUs / ICAR institutes has notified Nano DAP and Nano zinc under FCO. Studies conducted by ICAR institutes of Central Potato Research Institute of ICAR at Modipuram and Jalandhar confirmed 50% replacement of Phosphorus by 2 sprays @ 4 ml /litre of Nano DAP and tuber treatment @ 5 ml/litre resulted at par yield of potato.

All nano fertilizer manufacturers have been informed to conduct bio efficacy trials under the supervision of SAUs /ICAR in different agro-climatic zones. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has initiated a network project entitled “Evaluation of Nano urea on crop productivity and nitrogen use efficiency in diverse Agro-Ecological Zones of India” in November 2025 in 14 centres, 10 major Agro Ecological Zones (AEZs) for 12 major crops on important parameters such as the impact of long-term application of Nano urea on crop yield, produce quality and soil nutrient balance as well as working mechanism of nutrient from nano fertilizer in plant metabolism.Annexure I The details of sale of the Urea in the country since introduction of Nano Urea (i.e. year 2021-

22), year wise, State-wise (Figure in Lakh MT ) 2025-26 (Till S.No State 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25

08.02.26) 1 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2 Andhra Pradesh 14.83 15.87 14.99 15.70 15.14 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 4 Assam 3.60 3.56 3.73 4.10 3.80 5 Bihar 21.53 21.96 23.24 25.60 22.24 6 Chandigarh 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 7 Chhattisgarh 8.00 8.38 8.99 10.07 8.86 8 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 9 Daman and Diu 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10 Delhi 0.26 0.28 0.32 0.40 0.19 11 Goa 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 12 Gujarat 21.90 24.73 24.30 24.23 21.37 13 Haryana 20.75 20.46 21.77 22.65 21.91 14 Himachal Pradesh 0.74 0.74 0.68 0.65 0.70 15 Jammu and Kashmir 1.67 1.60 1.45 1.36 1.28 16 Jharkhand 2.57 2.56 3.04 3.73 2.82 17 Karnataka 17.84 18.21 15.65 19.17 16.06 18 Kerala 1.15 1.12 0.96 1.15 1.00 19 Lakshadweep 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 20 Madhya Pradesh 29.18 32.39 34.37 38.09 40.76 21 Maharashtra 23.68 24.66 23.48 26.41 24.29 22 Manipur 0.14 0.31 0.25 0.14 0.17 23 Meghalaya 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.04 0.03 24 Mizoram 0.01 0.10 0.13 0.20 0.10 25 Nagaland 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 26 Odisha 5.53 5.60 5.84 6.67 6.26 27 Puducherry 0.15 0.17 0.13 0.15 0.12 28 Punjab 31.34 29.45 30.68 32.56 29.08 29 Rajasthan 22.59 25.17 25.39 26.40 27.16 30 Sikkim 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 31 Tamil Nadu 10.40 10.05 10.11 10.92 10.01 32 Telangana 17.12 18.83 19.03 20.08 17.71 33 Tripura 0.18 0.19 0.14 0.17 0.14 34 Uttarakhand 2.09 2.05 2.31 2.31 2.02 35 Uttar Pradesh 71.12 74.72 74.53 79.18 75.64 36 West Bengal 13.30 14.05 12.20 15.77 12.14 All India 341.73 357.26 357.81 387.92 361.03Annexure II The details of sale of the Nano Urea in the country since introduction of Nano Urea (i.e. year 2021-22), year wise, State-wise (Figure in Lakh bottles of 500 ml) S.No State Name 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 1 Andaman & Nicobar 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 2 Andhra Pradesh 5.801 4.798 3.241 3.014 6.426 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 4 Assam 4.386 6.095 8.268 11.333 13.469 5 Bihar 14.840 28.559 12.817 12.151 6.265 6 Chandigarh 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 7 Chhattisgarh 5.234 11.017 4.326 3.558 3.284 8 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 9 Daman and Diu 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 10 Delhi 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 11 Goa 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 12 Gujarat 8.752 17.602 27.611 30.099 10.845 13 Haryana 16.287 12.695 8.474 10.209 9.672 14 Himachal Pradesh 1.501 1.268 1.532 1.729 1.339 15 Jammu and Kashmir 2.006 3.001 2.945 1.258 0.630 16 Jharkhand 1.552 3.661 2.218 3.936 4.088 17 Karnataka 8.182 19.645 9.594 15.566 16.069 18 Kerala 1.001 1.204 0.603 0.760 0.770 19 Lakshadweep 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 20 Madhya Pradesh 16.117 23.383 16.293 24.918 15.423 21 Maharashtra 16.512 25.041 14.976 35.641 15.095 22 Manipur 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 23 Meghalaya 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 24 Mizoram 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 25 Nagaland 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 26 Odisha 4.179 11.211 6.778 5.779 7.784 27 Puducherry 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 28 Punjab 17.774 22.710 22.788 24.801 13.729 29 Rajasthan 15.023 25.227 20.080 22.083 17.408 30 Sikkim 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 31 Tamil Nadu 12.067 10.019 4.638 7.203 6.610 32 Telangana 5.867 6.001 3.088 5.314 9.613 33 Tripura 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 34 Uttarakhand 1.400 2.340 1.684 1.757 1.311 35 Uttar Pradesh 40.629 63.520 22.595 30.775 13.453 36 West Bengal 13.022 26.357 12.420 21.792 13.229 GRAND TOTAL 212.133 325.353 206.969 273.676 186.511 *******