India has drawn up an $8.7 billion plan to revive inoperative fertilizer plants and set up gas import and pipeline facilities in eastern India in a bid to become an exporter of urea(a chemical nitrogenous fertilizer) by 2021. The project includes building a 1,590-mile pipeline, the revival of four urea plants in the northern Uttar Pradesh state, eastern Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha states, and building a liquefied gas import facility.

Reuters reports that India produced 24.2 million tons of urea in 2016-17, while importing about 5.4 million tons of its fertilizer needs; the revived plants are projected to increase the annual urea production capacity by 7.5 million tons, said Ananth Kumar, India’s Minister in charge of fertilizers. He added, “From an importing country, we will become an exporting country. For food security, we need fertilizer security.”