Nearly one-third of India’s land faces the threat of land degradation. This further adds to the problems of Indian agriculture where the farmer is beholden to the vagaries of nature, now more so with the rising impacts of climate change.
Agriculture uses 141 million hectares (mha) out of 328.7 mha of the country,
and one of the well-established causes of land degradation is the overuse
of chemical fertilizers.
TERI has worked on a range of solutions to make Indian agriculture sustainable and bring better income to its large agricultural workforce. Our state-of-the-art TERI-Deakin Centre for Nanobiotechnology (TDNBC) has developed nano biofertiliser products, which are ready for commercialization and could well emerge as 'disruptive technologies’ in Indian agriculture. Nanobiotechnology has the
potential to improve agricultural systems through increase in plant productivity and better crop protection to meet the food demands of a growing population. Compared to bulk form of chemical inputs in crops, use of nanonutrients can reduce nutrient run-off into ground and surface water, thus reducing
environmental pollution.
