One of the planned objectives of the Government is to alleviate poverty, and as such various programmes are being followed. With 75% of our population "mostly rural." being involved in agriculture either directly or indirectly and contributing nearly 40% of our GDP. the government is focusing on agricultur.e as a vehicle of poverty alleviation, and quite rightly so. With the efforts of all concerned "farmers, agricultural extension workers, donors. NGOs". we have now attained a near self-sufficiency level in food production and are even exploring possibilities of exporting rice. Our foodgrain production during 1991-92 stood at 19.3 million metric tonnes whereas in 1973-74 it was 11.9 million metric tonnes. Although the Increase In production Is not comparable to that of IJorea or Taiwan where production Increased four fold, however, it Is a no mean achievement. The "Green Revolution" model based on a package, which includes use of seeds (HYV) with a high response to big doses of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides and the availability of water for Irrigation during the dry season, assisted greatly to reach the self-sufficiency level.

It Is now becoming more and more obvious that the 'over use' of land and soil has caused decline in crop yields and studies carried out by FAO established yield declines of 1.3 per cent per year on some fields In Asia using the Green Revolution technique. In addition. the soil fertility level of the culttvatable land in Bangladesh which was over 2.5 per cent during 1982-83 has sharply decreased to 1.5 per cent, a figure considered critical by the experts. Studies carried out by BARC has found that fertility level of about 70 per cent of the total 9.3 million hectares of arable land In the country has gone below the critical point in the past ten years, primarily because of Indiscriminate use of fertilizer — mostly nitrogenous fertilizers which give immediate results in increased yields. Since a farmer's maid goal Is to Increase output the use of such fertilizers provided him with the answer. However, agricultural extension workers should have pointed out to the farmers the detrimental Impact of disproportionate use of nitrogenous fertilizers which. 1 believe, they never did and it is fair to say that very,few prac-

tical field level demonstrations on the beneficial use of balanced fertilization exists in the country.

Time has now come to make a total reassessment of the situation in the light of declining crop yields, ever increasing costs of agricultural inputs—mainly fertilizers and pesticides — so that in our fight against poverty alleviation the agricultural way is not lost.' A national policy on fertilizer production and utilization is the crying need of the hour. In this connection the example of China’ is worth mentioning, which, in the early eighties, introduced a system which was subsequently called "presc-ription fertilization(PF)." The objective was to increase agricultural productivity In a sustained manner.

In 1983. the Chinese Ministry of' Agriculture arranged a conference to discuss the concept of "balanced fertilization" which resulted in the grouping of various forms and ways of application under the name PF. Through vigorous and sustained campaigning, the new practice and its men Its were acknowledged by the farmers nationwide ahd. as a result, by 1986 more than 20 million hectares were fertilized according to FP principles. which by 1989 reached 33 million hectares and Is still rising. The effects In general were as follows — agricultural production has increased between 10-20 per cent, and even more economic return is further enhanced due to the fact that fertilizer use has decreased by 5 to 10 per cent leading to better efficiency: soil fertility status has Improved through planned interaction of mineral and organic fertilizers, simultaneously economical systems are better protected; balancing the nutrients in the soil improves various growing processes of plants, improving thus the crop quality.

Due to the vigorous use of the PF system it had an impact on fertilizer manufacturing as well, to the extent that fertilizer factories were set up In the Provinces which specialized to produce 50-80 types of compound fertilizers with such micronutrients combined which are typically deficient In the soils of that province.

Bangladesh's agricultural output is increasing at the rate approximately 3% per annum and if we can achieve half, or even a quarter of that achieved

by China after the Introduction of the PF system, then by the year 2000 AD: we will have an estimated surplus of at least 500,000 to 10,00,000 metric tons of rice for export having an estimated value of US$1.50 . blllloh to US$2 billion which will have a significant impact on our economy especially the people connected with agriculture— the 75% of the population.

Our policy planners should, therefore, recognised the introduction of the PF system, in the light of the Chinese experience. and develop ways and means for Its early implementation. In this connection, researches carried out by the various organs such as the "Soil Research Development Instltute"(SRDl) and the BARC may be pooled for the development of the PF system. The SRDI has developed "Thana Land and Soil Resources Utilization Guides" for 89 thanas and field surveys were completed for 260 thanas and the remaining surveys will be completed by 1997. However, in view of the urgency of the situation such surveys should be completed earlier by refixing priorities and allocating finance. At the same time. BARC has embarked on a Tk. 10 crore project, the end result being the development of a "G1S system" which will be able to tell the farmers of a particular village which crop would be the best for cultivation on the basis of the data regarding soil fertility or humidity etc.

In my view a national level conference under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture should be arranged with the participation of all concerned— farmers, researchers, scientists, agricultural extension workers, environmentalists, suppliers of fertilizers, manufacturers of fertilizers, representatives of various chambers and trade bodies, donor agencies and others so that after due deliberations on the various aspects, forms and ways of application of balanced fertilization' .a consensus could be reached which will lead the way for the Initiation of the system of Prescription Fertilization (PF) and that will have a marked impact on agricultural output and environment resulting in economic and environmental prosperity for the nation In the years to come.

Dewan M. Uzalr Afzal Dhanmondl R/A, Dhaka