HYDERABAD, May 29: The directorate of plant protection and agriculture extension, Sindh, has drawn samples from various fertilizer dealers and warehouses to stop the sale of substandard fertilizers.

A spokesman for the department said here on Wednesday that 267 samples of fertilizers were collected last year for testing and 58 of them were substandard.

At least 39 cases were challaned in the court of law, out of which ] 10 cases were decided and the culprits were penalized with fines ranging from Rs500 to Rs10,000. He added that the remaining cases were under legal process.

He pointed out that the maximum penalty for this crime, under the Sindh Fertilizer Act, was a fine Rs10,000, with two years imprisonment and added that the samples were tested at the officially declared fertiliser-testing laboratory of the Agriculture Research Institute, Tando Jam.

He further said that 96 samples of fertilizers were drawn by the fertilizer inspectors of the department during January-April 2002, 7 of them were declared substandard.

He said that the provincial agriculture department was considering enhancing the fee for the registration of companies and dealers for distribution and sale of both fertilizers and pesticides, as a measure to check unscrupulous elements in this business and prevent sale of spurious and substandard inputs to farmers.

He said farmers were also being educated through personal contacts, seminars, field days and mass media about the correct and balanced use of fertilizers and pesticides.

He added that farmers were being motivated to get the soils of their land tested from the soil and water testing laboratories working in every district so that the experts could advise them about correct application of relevant fertilizers according to required doses.

The spokesman said that farmers were being guided about the application of pesticides only when the pest infestation had reached injury level and about natural methods of prevention and cure of pests in crops. He added that a programme of Integrated Pest Management (IMP) was being implemented in various districts of the province.