IRRI collaborates with the USAID-funded and IFDC-executed Agro-based Industries and Technology Development Project (ATDP) in Bangladesh to promote the Urea super granules (USG) technology. The ATDP and Mark Industries (private sector) have perfected a urea briquette machine. By June 2000, more than 540 urea briquette machines had been sold to private entrepreneurs who produced urea briquettes for rice farmers in 45 out of the 64 districts in the country. In Bangladesh, the cost of urea briquettes is about 10 per cent higher than that of prilled urea. During 1999, more than 100,000 ha of boro rice were fertilized with urea briquettes.

Urea super granules (USG), when placed at 10 cm depth, in puddled soils saves nitrogen up to 25 per cent with no reduction in yield of the rice crop. Farmers’ major problem had been the difficulty of manual deep placement of urea briquettes, especially when rice in randomly transplanted by contractual laborers. The hand applicator, developed and widely used in Indonesia, has not found favour with farmers in the Consortium countries. RWC partners have redesigned the fluted roller used for fertilizer application in zero-till/ bed-planting machines. The machine has since been modified and now it is possible to deep-place N fertilizers mechanically in just one pass of the machine.

The urea super granule-making machine imported from Bangladesh and modified to remove a  bottle elliptically shaped USG Tablets. which interfere with the free flow of USG in the seed cum ferti-drill in use in the region. Apart from this, the machine is sedentary, requiring farmers to bring fertilizer to a place to make into the granules. The new improvements included :  (1). Change in press roller which makes round free flowing USG ;  (2) mounting it on wheels with tractor and (3) use of  tractor power through PTO shaft so that the tractor can be used as source of energy for making USG