BALANCED USE OF FERTILIZERS-FARMERS’

PERCEPTION

Khuda Bakhsh, PhD

Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UAF

Background• Technologies are developed in order to improve crop

production and overall welfare of farmers and society as well

• Recommendations of fertilizers for different crops to increase productivity

• But mostly farmers do not make use of those recommendations

• Imbalanced use is another important issue

Research Objectives

• The objectives are to know

– Perception of farmers about balanced fertilizer use

– Constraints in the balanced use of fertilizers

Source of Data

Three districts from the province of Punjab

• Multan district from cotton-wheat zone

• Faisalabad district from mixed cropping zone

• Gujranwala district from rice-wheat cropping zone

RESULTS

Information about soil and water testing laboratory

Particulars Multan Faisalabad Gujranwala

Frequency (%)

Frequency (%)

Frequency (%)

Visit to soil and water testing laboratory (%)

17 (11.2) 18 (11.8) 22 (14.5)

Purpose of visit to laboratory (%)

To obtain knowledge about Salinity

3 (17.6) 7 (38.9) 5 (22.7)

To know level of soil fertility in order to apply quality of fertilizers

13 (76.5) 9 (50) 16 (72.8)

Others 1 (5.9) 2 (11.1) 1 (4.5)

Awareness about balanced fertilizer use

 Response Multan FaisalabadGujranwal

a% % %

Awareness about balance use 46 73 55No awareness about balance use 54 27 45Having awareness did you adopt fertilizer accordinglyUse of balanced fertilizer 61 79 64No use of balanced fertilizer 39 21 36Impact of fertilizer if applied balanced amountCrop vegetative growth only 2.3 3.4 7.5Crop yield only 18.6 18.2 24.5Both crop yield and growth 74.4 78.4 64.2Resistance against pest and disease attacks

4.7 3.8

Causes of imbalanced fertilizer use (Ranking)

Particulars Multan Faisalabad GujranwalaPurchasing fertilizer on credit so having no choice in selection of fertilizers

3 5 3

Financial constraint1 1 1

Stick to traditional practice4 2 2

Inadequate availability of different types of fertilizers

6 4

Sometime more/less requirement of fertilizers according to condition of crops

2 6 4

Others5 3

Perception of farmers-balanced fertilizersResponses Multan Faisalabad Gujranwala

% % %

Did balance fertilizer use decrease cost/unit of output?Yes 43 50 50No 57 50 50Did you make decision about fertilizer use according to soil type?Yes 51 40 72No 49 61 28If fertilizer use is according to soil type, source of informationUsing own farming experience 78 83 89Progressive farmers/farmers getting higher yield in village

3.9 3 3

Soil and water testing laboratory 9.1 7 1Extension workers 3.9 2 6Others 5.2 5 1

Reasons for using more nitrogenous fertilizer (Ranking)

Particular Multan Faisalabad Gujranwala Late sowing 7 5 7

 Easy availability 4 2 3

 Commonly used by all 5 6 4

 Available at low prices 1 4 2

Vegetative growth more important for higher yield

3 3 5

Traditional practices 6 1 6

 Immediate effect on crops

2 7 1

CONCLUSIONS

• Above 46 percent farmers don’t know about balanced use of fertilizers

• Out of total having information about balanced use, only 68 percent applied

• Reasons for not applying balanced fertilizer include

– Purchasing fertilizer on credit

– Financial constraints

– Traditional practices

• Causes of larger amounts of nitrogenous fertilizers

– Availability at low prices

– Immediate effect on crops

– Traditional practices

THANKS