Granary of the East – Hopes rekindled with nano!

Dr. Banibaratha Pandey who is the Vice President and Head of Emerging Technologies Division of NFCL a $ 3 billion asset enterprise from Hydrabad in India, was equivocal – we read about what you have done in the Journal Current Science.  Then I called SLINTEC and after awhile got into a plane and was in Colombo.  That is almost how he described the backdrop to an important event that happened in Colombo last week.  The event was an important milestone for Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology. 

When the fruits of a research yield in this manner it is quite exciting.  Why it is important?  This is a transaction based on local intellectual property being recognised by an international group.  A small science team – SLINTEC unfortunately did not and still do not have the luxury of engaging a group of scientists to work on one project – working diligently and smartly on the bench yield excellent results from innovative thinking.  Repeated trials and after much sweat and tears too, the lab trials did move onto field trials and with shoestring budgetary allocations but with some strong support from organisations like rice, horticulture and tea research institutes led to successful demonstrations on mother earth.  

Work continues  

Trials are still continuing but results so far had been excellent and quite encouraging.  The research team and SLINTEC initially sealed their ownership to intellectual property via submitting patent applications in United States.  This allows to a degree the scientists usual mode of communication – writing an article and pursuing a publication with peer review.  This the team duly did and it was this peer reviewed publication that met Dr. Pandey’s eye.  A period of about six months elapsed from this initial inquiry to the signing up in Colombo.  It is important today that patents need to be there first ahead of publications thus indicating the new mantra – patent and publish.  The old mantra that had given way to this was Publish or Perish.  

The scientific development which was the basis of all these negotiations and agreements relates to the development of a slow release fertiliser – essentially giving what the plant wants and no more with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.  The basic science stems from nanotechnology and SLINTEC can be proud of this fact as it was delivering research results really applicable to us locals as well as in a regional sense.  This was one of the first research projects at SLINTEC initiated jointly with Hayleys Agro.  Today in Sri Lanka fertiliser is a big story.  Since the demise of the Urea manufacturing facility we have been importing this essential nitrogen fertiliser at a tremendous cost.  

Pricey affair

As the price cannot be just passed on to the farmer the government had been perpetually subsidising urea at an enormous cost.

The subsidy scheme is said to amount to approximately 2.24 per cent of total Government expenditure and has become a significant burden on the Treasury. The subsidy is pursued due to its social importance but has yielded returns by way of increased farmed land and output.  The farmers too use what they receive in quite liberally though guidelines are in place.  In some quarters there is the general feeling that more you put the more you get!  The current understanding is that more than 50% of the applied fertiliser generally get washed away thus contributing to a serious environmental pollution problem.  The real cost of this environmental problem is never factored in economic calculations though the costs will manifest in many other ways.

What it spells

The event aforementioned was the agreement between SLINTEC and Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (NFCL) of India signed on 15 March, to develop a next generation of nanotechnology based plant nutrition solutions based on the initial development work at SLINTEC.  This is a strategic agreement with spelled out development goals into the future.  The developments mean green products yielding increasing productivity and income to farmers and enabling more sustainable agribusiness for all.  The occasion was graced by Minster of Technology and Research as well the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.  

This may well be the first event of this kind in Sri Lankan science which in one may be important but when one takes a cold hard look of the times passed indicates multiple opportunities lost and an indictment on the establishment which did not understand the value of science and technology.  In simple terms, the work of a small team on home soil had yielded intellectual property at a value of three million dollars.  The potential on royalties are more as this is the transactional cost of this strategic agreement.  Simply for Sri Lanka this experience had been lacking.

Something the Indian delegation mentioned during the event still is important and worthy of a comment.  They stated that while the bench work carried out at SLINTEC is novel, exciting and offers much promise to bring about a new generation of fertilisers that they only can develop it to realise its potential.  What they explicitly indicated was their ability to Scale up as they had internal facilities.  Proof-of-concept is not sufficient.  Proof of scalability stands between the lab and the market place.  Fertiliser is something that is traded in large quantities and ability to cater to this demand is what is important at the commercialisation stage.  

If SLINTEC did continue to the scale-up stage the returns from the negotiations would have been different.  If SLINTEC alone with local agriculture parties were able to complete the plant stage then the returns could be even more different.  Yes each of these stages needs increasing capital expenditure.  Lack of investment capital effectively hinders these developments and result in an intellectual property transaction at an earlier stage of the value chain.  We know that while we have shown an ability to bring in expensive automobiles we do think twice or even thrice when it comes to production or manufacturing equipment.  That has been the story of our industry in many sectors.

Sri Lanka can utilise the fruits of this scientific labour to enhance productivity as well as to cut down on subsidy.  The latter should definitely be a welcome message to the State.  The agreement will help in realising this step faster.  It has been a long time since Sri Lanka held a high position in Agriculture.  Today we look back and claim of what we have done in the past as the granary of the east.  The current scenario is making ends meet under difficult conditions.  Green Revolution was an Indian event so too was the white revolution with milk.  Embedding nano into fertiliser sector in a sustainable manner seeds may have been planted again for us to reap some benefits in this primary area of importance – agriculture.

Never too late

We know that with each passing day with population rising one has to be innovative to meet individual obligations of food and energy.   As the same land mass had to support every activity, innovations of this nature doing more with less is important and crucial.  At times the significance of these developments is not understood by the masses which include planners as well.  When one is geared to meet issues with ways that have been practiced over long period of time innovations are lost causes.  It is quite interesting to note in this case the writing received the attention of a worthy reader and one who could take action beyond digesting only what’s written.  Another journey has started this time as an international partnership.  Much more sweat may be needed and hopefully lot less tears would flow in realising the true potential.  

From a scientist viewpoint the ability to make a lasting contribution is not an everyday occurrence and as such much treasured.  While this event is still an opening event of a strategic agreement the event did unfold a closing argument – Can research yield something of significance and an opening to climb up internationally with nanotechnology in a local setting?  The skeptics were not only in the treasury but were out there in the scientific establishment too – fortunately not too many.  It was this question that was answered quite emphatically on that day.  On that alone the science team and SLINTEC deserves applause.  The motto of Nagarjuna is serve society through industry. Scientific research and innovations indeed plays a vital role and is shown by Nagarjuna having a separate division for emerging technologies within the organisation.  That should not be a lesson lost on us.