Effective measures to protect soil fertility stressed
28 June 2014
BSS, Rajshahi :
Need-oriented and effective measures should be adopted to protect the soil fertility and productivity in the greater interest of boosting agricultural outputs to ensure food security of the country.
Time has come to bring all the farmers and others concerned under training and awareness programme on how to protect the soil health from further degradation through judicious uses of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
Agriculturists and soil scientists stated this while addressing the closing session of a six-day training workshop styled "Using Guidelines of Upazila Land and Soil Resources" organised by Regional Office of Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) at NCDP Training hall here yesterday.
SRDI Director and Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Syed Ali Nasim Khaliluzzaman addressed the session as chief guest with SRDI Principal Scientific Officer Kamruzzaman in the chair.
Additional Director of Department of Agriculture Extension Nurul Amin, Deputy Director Abul Kalam Azad and SRDI Project Director Mokbul Hossain also spoke.
The speakers said disproportionate use of chemical fertilisers and harmful pesticides for cultivation of high yielding varieties of different crops and vegetables are mainly responsible for continued decline in soil nutrients.
Lesser use of organic matter and little or no use of leguminous green manure and bio-fertilisers have also been detected as the degradable factors.
'Organic matter requirement is at least 2.5 percent in a normal soil, whereas the content in the area was found less than 1.3 percent and even less than one per cent in some soils,' revealed Kamruzzaman.
He told the audience that the soil productivity has gradually been declining as the soil has becoming strongly acidic following repeated crop cultivation through indiscriminate using of chemical fertilisers and pesticides round the year.
The acid soils possess high concentration of aluminum, iron and manganese triggering deficiency of some major micro-nutrients like phosphorus, molybdenum and low availability of bases which causes reduction in crop yield.
He said the field level agricultural officials and staffs have a vital role to play for making the farmers aware on judicious uses of fertiliser and pesticides.
Some 20 agriculture extension and research officials from Rajshahi, Chapainawabgonj, Naogaon and Natore districts took part in the workshop.
Need-oriented and effective measures should be adopted to protect the soil fertility and productivity in the greater interest of boosting agricultural outputs to ensure food security of the country.
Time has come to bring all the farmers and others concerned under training and awareness programme on how to protect the soil health from further degradation through judicious uses of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
Agriculturists and soil scientists stated this while addressing the closing session of a six-day training workshop styled "Using Guidelines of Upazila Land and Soil Resources" organised by Regional Office of Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) at NCDP Training hall here yesterday.
SRDI Director and Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Syed Ali Nasim Khaliluzzaman addressed the session as chief guest with SRDI Principal Scientific Officer Kamruzzaman in the chair.
Additional Director of Department of Agriculture Extension Nurul Amin, Deputy Director Abul Kalam Azad and SRDI Project Director Mokbul Hossain also spoke.
The speakers said disproportionate use of chemical fertilisers and harmful pesticides for cultivation of high yielding varieties of different crops and vegetables are mainly responsible for continued decline in soil nutrients.
Lesser use of organic matter and little or no use of leguminous green manure and bio-fertilisers have also been detected as the degradable factors.
'Organic matter requirement is at least 2.5 percent in a normal soil, whereas the content in the area was found less than 1.3 percent and even less than one per cent in some soils,' revealed Kamruzzaman.
He told the audience that the soil productivity has gradually been declining as the soil has becoming strongly acidic following repeated crop cultivation through indiscriminate using of chemical fertilisers and pesticides round the year.
The acid soils possess high concentration of aluminum, iron and manganese triggering deficiency of some major micro-nutrients like phosphorus, molybdenum and low availability of bases which causes reduction in crop yield.
He said the field level agricultural officials and staffs have a vital role to play for making the farmers aware on judicious uses of fertiliser and pesticides.
Some 20 agriculture extension and research officials from Rajshahi, Chapainawabgonj, Naogaon and Natore districts took part in the workshop.
