At least Taka 12 crore and 25 lakh is misused for purchasing dye ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer in an upazila in Jhenaidah during the onion farming every year as the onion farmers usually apply four to five times more fertilizer to get optimum yield. Deputy director of the department of agricultural extension (DAE) in Khamarbari of Jhenaidah Mohammad Qamruzzaman expressed this in a training workshop on Wednesday at Shailkupa upazila livestock officer conference room as the chief guest.
Jointly organized by Bangladesh Soil Resource Institute (SRDI) Jhenaidah Regional officer and Shailkupa upazila agricultural office, a total of 50 selected onion farmers participated in the training workshop on Soil Sample Collection Method. Upazila agricultural officer Arifuzzaman presided over the inaugural session where SRDI scientific officers Sharmin Rahman and Regional officer Mehedi Hasan among others spoke.
The chief guest said the government imports DAP and some other fertilizers from various countries to assist the farmers where huge foreign currency is spent every year, while it is sols among the farmers against huge subsidy. But most of the farmers do not follow the rules of fertilizers application and other management that increases the production cost almost in all crops like onion. If they are conscious
about the fertilizer management, they could gain profit to strengthen their socio-economic sate.
The DAE executive said, the soil needs at least five percent organic matter, while it contains less than one percent on an average in the Jhenaidah soil. Here the farmers with sincerity would apply organic matters to increase the soil nutrients on their cropland.
