Compost fertilisers help raise crop yields in N-dists

RANGPUR, Oct 21: Hundreds of people including the distressed women have successfully changed their fates by producing composts fertilizers at their homesteads both in the main land and char areas in recent years in northern Bangladesh, reports BSS.
After purchasing, the farmers have been applying those in their crop fields and getting increased crop productions side by side reviving the soil health by adding necessary soil nutrients, officials, experts and scientists said.
Compost fertilizers are being produced generally using dung of the cattle heads, wood dust, oil cake and water, water hyacinths, some organic manure, various wastages, leaves and other waste materials.
Talking to BSS Thursday, the agri- scientists and experts favoured expanded production and application of compost fertilizers for increasing crop productions by up to fifteen percent and improving soil health by reducing uses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Agri-scientist DR MA Mazid said that crop production might further increase if balanced use of chemical fertilizers could be ensured by adopting conservation agriculture technologies.
Additional Director of the DAE Mohsin Ali said that compost fertilizers could improve soil textures, fertility, increase its water and nutrient storing capacities, upgrade sandy land into sandy-loamy and sandy loamy into loamy and then into clay soil in course of time.
The annual consumption of urea, TSP, MoP and other fertilizers and pesticides would reduce by over 30 percent if productions of compost fertilizers were increased and its popular usages were ensured throughout the country.
Side by side ensuring food security by increased crop productions, adequate use of composts would help regaining lost population of the extinct insecticides, earthworms, birds and fishes and maintain ecology, bio-diversity and environment.
Successful implementation of the "One House, One Farm' programme and building mass awareness among the farmers by disseminating the message through information communication technology (ICT) could play the most vital roles, they said.
Thousands of the small and marginal farmers, poor, distressed and landless people have been earning good profits and alleviating poverty by producing composts in their homesteads and selling those to the farmers throughout the year.
Farmers Echahaq Ali, Mahmudul Islam and Abul Kalam told BSS that they have been getting excellent yields of Boro and T-Aman using adequate compost fertilizers and only 23-kg urea per bigha in place of previous 35 kg by adopting LCC method.
Head of Agriculture of RDRS Dr MG Neogi told that increased use of composts would help increasing crop productions along with improving environment, ecology and bio-diversity amid the adverse impacts of the ongoing global climate changes.

Source: www.newstoday.com.bd, 21 OCt. 2010