"The balanced use of fertilisers can increase the production of major crops up to 50 percent," said Faisalabad University of Agriculture Vice Chancellor Doctor Iqrar Ahmad Khan during a media briefing about the university's models being developed for proper prediction of fertiliser doses.
These models have been developed as a result of untiring hard work and efforts of Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan with the co-operation of the Agriculture Department. The USAID and ICARDA are providing financial and technical support to create awareness to the farming community. The briefing also drew in ICARDA Country Manager Dr Abdul Majid is playing a pivotal role and Principal Investigator Dr Muhammad Rashid, Mudassar Abbas Deputy Director Video Lahore, Kahloon Agricultural Information, Multan, Assistant Director Naveed Asmat and reporters.
Dr Iqrar said, "Almost all soils in the Punjab province have become deficient in Nitrogen and phosphorus is also not sufficient in 80 to 90 percent soils to meet the requirements of crops due to which agriculture production has decreased considerably." Dr Rashid said, "Balanced use of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers for wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane and maize on 50 percent area of these crops could give additional income up to Rs 260 billion."
Revealing declining trend of use of phosphorus fertiliser, he said the average use of phosphorus fertiliser had increased from 26 kg/ha in 2004-05 to 41 kg/ha in 2006-07 but again came down to 31 kg/ha in 2012-13 because of the rising price of fertilisers. He gave a detailed briefing about a soil-test-based fertiliser prediction models to predict the required amount of N and P for desired yield of various crops on district basis.
About the importance of the models, Dr Rashid said, "Models predict the balanced amounts of N and P to meet the requirements for desired yield and farmers can save money to be spent on fertilisers following general recommendations. The models provide an opportunity to farmers to obtain yield according to their resources." On the main benefit of these models, he said, "Farmers can get the information about fertilizer doses while sitting in their homes. For using these models, the website address is: www.fertilizeruaf.pk."-PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2015

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