Kalola Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the 'Sahakar Se Samriddhi' seminar to leaders of various cooperative institutions at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, where he also inaugurated the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant built at IFFCO, Kalol. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Members of Parliament, MLAs, Gujarat Government Ministers, and cooperative sector leaders were among those in attendance.
In his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the thousands of farmers who had gathered at the Mahatma Mandir today. He stated that cooperation is an excellent medium for the village's self-sufficiency. It is charged with the energy of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. He stated that Pujya Bapu and Patel paved the way for villages to achieve self-sufficiency. Along those lines, we are now moving forward with the development of a model cooperative village. Six villages in Gujarat have been chosen to host all cooperative-related activities, he said.
Likewise, the Prime Minister expressed heartfelt joy at the inauguration of the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant built at IFFCO, Kalol. He claims that the power of a full sack of urea has been compressed into a half-liter bottle, resulting in significant savings in transportation and storage. The plant will produce approximately 1.5 lakh 500 ml bottles per day, and the Prime Minister stated that eight more such plants will be established in the country in the coming days.
"This will reduce the country's reliance on foreign urea and save money." I am confident that this breakthrough will not be limited to urea. Other nano fertilizers will be available to our farmers in the future," he said.
According to the Prime Minister, India is the world's second-largest consumer of urea but only the third-largest producer. Following the formation of the government in 2014, the government completed a complete neem coating of urea. This ensured that the country's farmers had enough urea. Simultaneously, work on restarting five closed fertilizer factories in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Telangana began. The factories in Uttar Pradesh and Telangana have already begun production, and the other three will follow suit, he said.
When discussing import dependence on urea, phosphate, and potash-based fertilizers, the Prime Minister emphasized high prices and a lack of availability in the global market due to the pandemic and war. The Prime Minister stated that the sensitive government did not allow problems to be passed on to farmers and, despite the difficult situation, did not allow a fertilizer crisis to develop in India.
The farmer pays Rs 300 for a urea bag that costs Rs 3500, while the government pays Rs 3200 per bag. Similarly, the DAP government bears Rs 2500 on a bag, as opposed to Rs 500 carried by previous governments. The Union Government provided a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh 60 thousand crore last year; this year's subsidy will be more than Rs 2 lakh crore, according to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister promised to do whatever was necessary to protect the interests of the country's farmers and to continue to strengthen the country's farmers.
The Prime Minister stated that over the last eight years, the government has worked on both immediate and long-term solutions to the country's problems. He cited solutions such as improving health infrastructure to deal with any future pandemic shock, Mission Oil Palm to address edible oil issues, bio-fuel and hydrogen fuel to address oil issues, natural farming, and a push for nanotechnology as outcomes of this approach. Similarly, he stated that there is a solution to many of India's self-reliance problems. He cited cooperatives as an excellent model of self-sufficiency.
The Prime Minister stated that Gujarat was also fortunate in having Pujya Bapu and Sardar Saheb as leaders. Sardar Saheb was responsible for bringing revered Bapu's path of self-help through cooperation to fruition. We have the example of the dairy cooperative model in front of us. Today, India is the world's largest milk producer, with Gujarat playing a significant role.
Dairy industry has grown rapidly in recent years, contributing significantly to the rural economy. Milk-based industries were widely spread in Gujarat because government restrictions were minimal in this regard. The government serves only as a facilitator in this case; the rest is handled by cooperatives or farmers.
