A quiet revolution: NBRI’s innovation boosts liquid biofertilizer production in Odisha’s Nabarangpur

thehindu
2024.10.19

The NBRI has provided its proven, high-efficiency strains of bio-inoculants to Krishna Nayak, an entrepreneur from Uma Shankar Sabuja Dunia Limited (USSDL) in Nabrangpur. With this technical support, Mr. Nayak has set up a biofertilizer production unit with a capacity to produce 1,400 tons per annum - an achievement that would have seemed unimaginable in this remote region just a few years ago.

“NBRI’s mother cultures for stress-tolerant, plant-growth-promoting microbes are of superior quality compared to commercially available options. These include Rhizobium for nitrogen fixation in legumes, Azotobacter for non-leguminous plants, Azospirillum for rice, along with phosphate-solubilising bacteria and potash-mineralising strains,” NBRI Director Ajit Kumar Shasany said.

Nabarangpur, an identified aspirational district, was chosen for intervention by India’s best scientific research laboratories to ground their innovations for benefit of people and upliftment of livelihood. Mr. Nayak’s biofertilizer production unit was inaugurated in October 2021 and has been producing biofertilizers since then. The entrepreneur has made investment of ₹1.5 crore with loan assistance from bank.

The biofertilizer has already reached over 25,000 farmers in districts like Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Balangir, Bargarh, Khordha, Sambalpur, Cuttak, and Kendrapada, and even some districts in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

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