New Delhi: In yet another move towards farmer welfare and to conduct innovative research in agriculture, IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) on Wednesday. The MoU aims at carrying out collaborative research, test and, validating different products through ICAR Institutes and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), disseminating technological advancements through training, awareness programmes, campaigns, field trials and demonstrations for farmers' benefits. In a tweet, IFFCO's Managing Director & CEO Dr US Awasthi said that it is a collaborative step to double farmers' income by 2022 in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision.
In his address, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR), emphasized that collaborative research and reduction of fertilizer's consumption to even 15 percent will be a significant contribution. He also stressed on technology validation and commercialisation.
IFFCO's Director (Marketing) Yogendra Kumar stated that this MoU will help in testing, validating, and disseminating the innovative products at a fast pace that will benefit farmers.
Earlier, both of the organisations had signed an MoU for joint research in nano fertilizers.
Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO)
Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) is a multi-state cooperative society engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of fertilisers. It is headquartered in New Delhi. The company was started in 1967 with 57 member cooperatives. It is today the biggest co-op in the world by turnover on GDP per capita, with around 35,000 member cooperatives reaching over 50 million Indian farmers. With around 19 percent market share in urea and around 29 percent market share in complex fertilisers (P2O5 terms), IFFCO is India's largest fertiliser manufacturer.
The cooperative was ranked 66th on the Fortune India 500 list of India's biggest corporations in 2017 with a net worth of $2.3 billion as on March 2018.
Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI)
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's National Institute for agricultural research, education, and extension. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was originally located in Pusa, Bihar as the Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research in 1911. It was then renamed as the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute in 1919 and following a major earthquake in Pusa, it was relocated to Delhi in 1936. The current institute in Delhi is financed and administered by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The IARI was responsible for the research leading to the "Green Revolution in India" in the 1970s.