Encourage organic fertiliser use to retain soil’s fertility

IT’s widely alleged that adulterated fertiliser is produced in several districts before the eyes of local administration. As per a newspaper report, the use of contaminated fertilisers has become a severe threat to our agriculture. If it continues, then the soil will soon lose its fertility very much.
We know our agriculture comprises 16 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Of the agricultural income, crop agriculture alone accounts for 55 per cent. But the boost to farm yield would be crucial in the future as the country loses 0.66 per cent of farmland to mainly non-farm uses. So, proper use of farmland with a pure and balanced fertiliser is a must to get a healthy harvest. And therefore, balanced use of fertiliser along with organic manure is a demand of time to increase productivity and fertility of the land. To ensure the quality of the used fertilisers, strong monitoring of imported potassium, potash and phosphate fertilisers at the stage of storage and distribution is very much important to prevent adulteration in crop growth.

However, crop plants require 16 nutrient elements for their optimum growth, development and yield. But most of the farmers do not know how to use micronutrients like copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, Zinc, and boron due to a lack of motivation. Mixed fertiliser is very good in terms of balanced fertilisation.
A study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Program of Practical Action Bangladesh on organic fertiliser promotion revealed that there was a lack of understanding of the requirements of soil and soil fertility testing. Organic fertiliser works slowly on soil and its productive efficiency is lower than chemical fertiliser, which is costly. As the organic fertiliser production costs are comparatively high; very few companies produce organic fertiliser and some of its quality is questionable.

While the government should be farmers-friendly for good yield in the granary, the picture of the agriculture sector is bleak with no match to the ground realities. The government provides a higher subsidy for chemical fertiliser regularly instead of encouraging organic manure production. As a result, it makes scope for vested interests and, thus allows disparity to exist in the political economy of fertiliser policy. It must end for the sake of our ‘food for all’ policy.