Recent developments in smart nano-agrochemicals: A promise for revolutionizing present-day agriculture

Abstract

Continuous use of conventional agrochemicals during the green revolution not only cracked the limitation of starvation for a little sort of time but also in turn emerged trouble of soil eradication, environmental pollution, and quality reduction of crop plants. Again, the issue of hunger and malnutrition has raised because 7.5 billion of the world’s population is going to be 9 billion by 2050. Therefore, ensuring food and nutritional security is the prime limiting factor. Conventional agrochemicals are nonsignificant to improve crop productivity due to disturbed microbial and nutrient status of the soil. So smart agrochemicals based on nano-materials are required to achieve this goal. The top-down and bottom-up methods have been rigorously implemented in the synthesis of nanostructured materials. The objective is to show the importance of nanotechnology in boosting plant yields and an early milestone for meeting the needs of global food requirements. The most recent progress in the smart agrochemical industry is the development of the world’s first liquid nano-urea by IFFCO at Nano Biotechnology Research (NBRC) Center, Gujarat (India) on the occasion of World Environment Day (5th June 2021) which has immense potential as 500 mL bottle will replace at least one bag of conventional urea reducing the cost of production for farmer. So, this review highlighted the impact and potential of smart agrochemicals/NPs which have tremendous potential to revolutionize the world’s agriculture to make breakthroughs in the hope of making a better world for a living.