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 MultanFaisalabadGujranwala 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) Others1 (5.9) 2 (11.1) 1 (4.5)

Awareness about balanced fertilizer use Response MultanFaisalabadGujranwala %% Awareness about balance use No awareness about balance use Having awareness did you adopt fertilizer accordingly Use of balanced fertilizer No use of balanced fertilizer Impact of fertilizer if applied balanced amount Crop vegetative growth only Crop yield only Both crop yield and growth Resistance against pest and disease attacks

Causes of imbalanced fertilizer use (Ranking) ParticularsMultanFaisalabadGujranwala Purchasing fertilizer on credit so having no choice in selection of fertilizers 3 53 Financial constraint 1 11 Stick to traditional practice 4 22 Inadequate availability of different types of fertilizers 6 4 Sometime more/less requirement of fertilizers according to condition of crops Others 5 3

Perception of farmers-balanced fertilizers Responses MultanFaisalabadGujranwala %% Did balance fertilizer use decrease cost/unit of output? Yes No Did you make decision about fertilizer use according to soil type? Yes No If fertilizer use is according to soil type, source of information Using own farming experience Progressive farmers/farmers getting higher yield in village Soil and water testing laboratory Extension workers Others

Reasons for using more nitrogenous fertilizer (Ranking) ParticularMultanFaisalabadGujranwala Late sowing 7 57 Easy availability 4 23 Commonly used by all 5 64 Available at low prices 1 42 Vegetative growth more important for higher yield 3 35 Traditional practices 6 16 Immediate effect on crops 2 71

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