Photo: BSS

RAJSHAHI, Oct 29, 2025 (BSS)- Scientists and experts urged the grassroots farmers to protect soil health from further degradation through balanced dose fertilization in the region.
 
Wide-ranging promotion of balanced fertilization can be the crucial means of boosting crop production through protecting soil health from further degradation.
 
Utmost emphasis should be given on habituating the grassroots farmers towards soil test-based balanced fertilization. There would be no fertilizer crisis in the country if the farmers were enriched with the knowledge of balanced fertilization, the experts added.
 
The views were made in a daylong farmers training and view-sharing meeting titled "Composite Soil Sample Collection Method, Balanced Fertilizer Use, Soil Health Conservation and Adulterated Fertilizer Identification" at Shah Agriculture Information Library at Kaligram village under Manda Upazila today.
 
The Divisional Office of the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) as part of its 'Mobile Soil Testing Laboratory (MSTL) programme' organised the training for around 50 promising farmers.
 
SRDI Principal Scientific Officer Dr Nurul Islam addressed the training session as focal person mentioning that excessive fertilization always causes increasing pest attacks to crops and diseases followed by yield loss besides damaging soil fertility balance, declining crops quality and market price.
 
Apart from this, excessive use of TSP, DAP and Potash is detrimental to other food elements of crops in soil leading to yield loss, misuse of money and affecting soil health.
 
The Soil Health Expert called for creating awareness among farmers on using appropriate and balanced fertilizer in soil to enhance productivity as well as protect public health. 

Dr Islam said the MSTL programme aims to provide on-farm, site-specific soil testing facilities and balanced fertilizer recommendations directly to farmers.

It encourage farmers to apply fertilizers based on the specific needs of their soil, rather than following a fixed formula.

Founder of Shah Agriculture Library Jahangir Alam Shah and SRDI Senior Scientific Officer Nilufer Yeasmin and Scientific Officer Rabiul Islam also spoke on the occasion.

In his remarks, Jahangir Alam Shah said lesser use of organic matter and little or no use of leguminous green manure and bio-fertilizers have also been detected as the degradable factors.
 
However, soil test based fertilization has become indispensable to maintain soil properties positive to growth of plants, he said.
 
In the training, the participants were given knowledge related to detecting adulterated fertilizer and sample analysis, available mobile soil test laboratory facilities to detect soil productivity and degradation and fertilizer using guidelines.