HYDERABAD, April 26: The director general, Agriculture Research and Extension, Sindh, Dr. Qazi Suleman Memon said that today more efforts were required to improve productivity of the soil.

He was speaking at a seminar on chillies organized by the Engro Chemicals Pakistan at Jhuddo on Thursday.

He said that due to the application of chemical fertilizers, the use of farm yard manure, crop rotation and green manure had been reduced and the deficiency of organic matter in our soils had reached the drastic level of 1 per cent.

He further said that the application of chemical fertilizers could only increase the yield of crops when we used balanced fertilizer, and added that in our soils urea fertilizer was used excessively, while other soil nutrients were neglected.

With reference to last year’s soil analysis of Kunri area, he said that we had taken 50 soil samples from Kunri which clearly showed a deficiency in potash, phosphorus, and zinc.

He said that one kilogram of soil must contain at least 0.6 mg of zinc but the soil samples had only between 0.2 and 0.3 mg of zinc per kilogram of soil. He added that in the same way, one kg of soil must contain between 15 and 20mg of phosphorus, but the samples contained only between 5 and 6mg of phosphorus per kg.

He disclosed that in Kunri 40 per cent of the soil showed deficiency in potash.

He said that the farmers could increase the organic matter of their soils with the use of farm manure, green manure, waste material of poultry farms, and dried leaves and plants.

He said that for the proper use of chemical fertilizers, farmers must get their soils analyzed, and added that the analysis would help farmers to understand which nutrients and how much nutrients were needed by their soils.

Mr Memon said that a soil- and water-testing laboratory would be established soon, and added that efforts were being made to turn brackish water into usable water.

He said that it was observed that the best results could be obtained with the partnership of private and government sectors, therefore, for quick solution of farmers’ problems we would start research work with the help of Engro Chemical Pakistan and other companies.