Fertilizer Law in Bangladesh

Popy Biswas
Roll: 18 SES 024
Introduction: Fertilizer Recommendation Guide is an outcome of soil fertility research in
Bangladesh. In 1957, a research scheme entitled, “Rapid soil Fertility survey and Popularization
of the use of Fertilizer in East Pakistan” was implemented. According to the soil test values
fertilizer recommendations for different crops were formulated and published in 1961 for the first
time in the name of,” Fertilizer used in East Pakistan”. Then department of soil survey carried out
reconnaissance surveys during 1961-70 and classified the soil into 18 general soil types and 20
soil units. The second fertilizer recommendation guide entitled, “soil fertility investigation in East
Pakistan” was published in 1967 and updated recommendations were published in 1969 in the
name of, “studies on soil Fertilizer and soils of East Pakistan”.

Fertilizer law in Bangladesh

Agriculture is the driving force of the Bangladesh economy. It is the dominant economic activity
of the country. Many of us think it as the life-blood of the rural economy of Bangladesh. As the
largest private enterprise, agriculture contributes about 21% to the country’s GDP. Bangladesh is
densely populated and agriculture based country. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for
more than 80% of the country's population. The main purpose of agriculture is to provide food for
the increasing population.
Chemical fertilizer was introduced in our country in the year of 1949-1950 with the import of only
2600MT of Ammonium Sulphate.Since then, fertilizer use in the country is steadily and
progressively increasing. During this year 2007-2008 the demand of chemical fertilizers has been
determined 4.372 million MT.

FERTILIZER
Broadly a fertilizer may be defined as any substance (chemical, organic and microbial) that is
added to soil to supply element(s) required for the nutrition of plants. In a specific sense, fertilizers
are chemicals that occur naturally or are produced in the factory and when added to the soil, supply
nutrient elements required for better plant growth. Some examples of different fertilizers:
Chemical fertilizers : Urea, TSP, MOP, Gypsum and Boric acid
Organic fertilizers : Cow dung, Farmyard manure, Poultry manure and Compost
Bio-fertilizers : Rhizobium, Azospirillum and Blue-Green Algae.

Fertilizer use in Bangladesh

Inorganic fertilizers have been introduced into this country during early 1950’s as a supplemental
source of plant nutrients. But their use started increasing steadily only from the mid 1960’s along
with the introduction and expansion of modern varieties accompanied by the development of
irrigation facilities. The increasing trend of fertilizer use, particularly urea-N, still continues
(Appendix-1). Until 1980, three primary major plant nutrients (N, P & K) along with one secondary
nutrient (Ca) were supplied from fertilizer to the soil. The importance of S and Zn for rice culture
in particular was recognized during early 1980’s. Gypsum, zinc sulphate and zinc oxy-sulphate
were then introduced to supply these nutrients. Very recently, the deficiencies of Mg, B and Mo
have been reported for some soils and crops. Of the total nutrients used in the country, nitrogen
alone constitutes about 80 percent, which may lead to nutrient imbalance in the soil-plant systems.
If this trend of fertilizer use continues along with intensive cultivation of high yielding crop
varieties, the productivity of soils is likely to be seriously affected. To avert this potential danger,
the limiting nutrients must be identified and the soils should be enriched with the addition of these
nutrients in properly balanced fertilization programs. Prior to 1990, only TSP was used by our
farmers as a source of P because it was the only P containing fertilizer available in the market at
that time. After 1990, SSP as an alternative source of P was introduced in our fertilizer market and
its availability was increasing with time. But granular SSP was banned for some time in the country
due to adulteration. SSP in the name of TSP was largely sold to farmers by dealers that hampered
farmers’ interest and thus production level. DAP, another source of P was made available and the
farmers started to use this fertilizer. Since these materials vary in their P content, variable amounts
of these materials would be required to meet a specific P fertilizer recommendation. As SSP
contains S and DAP contains N in addition to P, there is a need to adjust for S and N fertilizer
application if either SSP or DAP is used as a source of P instead of TSP.

Fertilizes application laws:

Fertilizers behave differently in the soil-plant system. Some fertilizers, namely those of P, S and
Zn have considerable residual effect and only a fraction of the total applied amount is recovered
by a single crop. In such cases, application of fertilizer in full dose at each crop is not economical.
In view of this, as well as major variations in soil characteristics, the following points should be
considered for making cropping pattern based fertilizer recommendations.
The objective of this law is to contribute to the enhancement of agricultural production capacity
and health of the citizens of the state by maintaining fertilizer quality, etc., and to ensure fair trade
in, and safe soil application of, fertilizers through the establishment of standards, registration,
inspection, and other measures.
Fertilizer is classified into two types: "special fertilizers" and "ordinary fertilizers" (Article 2).
"Special fertilizers" including rice bran and compost designated by Minister of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries, for which notification must be made at the time of production or
importation (Articles 2 and 22). "Ordinary fertilizers" are those that are not special fertilizers, for
which registration or notification is required upon production or importation (Articles 2, 4 and 16-
2).
Official standards have been prescribed for ordinary fertilizers. The official standards define for
each type of fertilizer the minimum or maximum amount of main components to be included, the
maximum amount allowed for components harmful to plants to be contained, along with other
restrictions (particle size and ingredients) as deemed necessary. This ensures the quality and safety
of fertilizers (Article 3).
In addition, there is a group of fertilizers within ordinary fertilizers designated as "specified
ordinary fertilizers." Designated by a cabinet order, these specified ordinary fertilizers are the ones
whose toxic ingredient remains in agricultural products, thereby in some uses could lead to harm
in human or animal health (Paragraph 1.4 of Article 4 and Article 5).
Guarantee labels must be attached to ordinary fertilizers to provide information on quality, etc. to
consumers and to ensure fair trade. The guarantee labels must carry a guaranteed nutrient content,
name of the producer and other relevant information (Articles 17 and 18).
Since consumers have extreme difficulty distinguishing the quality of compost, etc at the time of
purchase, it is especially necessary to distinguish the quality in utilization. For compost, etc,
standards for matters to be labeled concerning the quality shall be prescribed and labeled in order
to promote the rationalization of labeling concerning quality (Article 22-2).

Time and methods of fertilizer application

Fertilizer efficiency depends to a great extent, on the time and methods of application. This is
particularly important in case of nitrogen fertilizers which are highly water soluble and are
easily lost from soil in various ways. In certain situations, as much as 70% of the applied
nitrogen may be lost from the soil, and thus, become unavailable to the crop. Fertilizers are
now a very costly input. Therefore, efforts should be made to increase the efficiency of applied
fertilizers.
In applying fertilizers, the following general principles should be kept in mind.
i) Fertilizers should not be applied too close to seeds, young roots and stems of
herbaceous plants.
ii) Fertilizers should not fall on leaves when they are young and wet.
Fertilizers should be mixed with the soil thoroughly as much as possible.
iii) Urea should not be applied on high standing water.
iv) Zinc and phosphate fertilizers should not be applied together.
v) Organic manure/ fertilizers should be applied at least 15-20 days before
sowing/planting and mixed thoroughly with the soil.
vi) Rice should be transplanted immediately after incorporation of green manure
vii) Foliar spray is good for trace elements, particularly for horticultural crops.
For efficient use of fertilizers, an appropriate method of fertilizer application is very important.
There are three methods of fertilizer application: broadcast, localized application and foliar spray.
Broadcast method is most commonly used in field crops and the localized method is widely
followed in horticultural crops. In order to increase the efficiency of fertilizers, the following
general guidelines need to be followed.
1. During rabi season, if there is no facility for irrigation, the full dose of urea should be
applied and mixed with the soil during final land preparation.
2. If irrigation facility exists during rabi season, urea should be applied in three splits
3. In case of rice (except B. Aman rice), urea should be applied in three equal splits.
4. For vegetables, 2-3 split applications of urea should be adjusted with the growth periods
of the crop. For short duration crops the full dose of urea may be applied during final land
preparation.
5. For most spices, urea application may be made in 2-3 splits.
6. The benefit of top-dressed urea application is best realized when the fertilizer is applied in
late afternoon to the moist or just saturated soil and mixed thoroughly with the soil except
at panicle initiation stage.
7. Phosphate fertilizer should be applied during ploughing, 1-2 days prior to final land
preparation and zinc fertilizer should be applied during final land preparation.
8. The full doses of potassium and sulphur fertilizers should be applied during final land
preparation. However, in coarse-textured soils, the potassium fertilizer may be applied in
two splits: the first one-half at final land preparation and the second one-half at rapid
tillering stage with the second application of urea.
9. For tobacco and onion crops, K2SO4 instead of KCl(MOP) should be applied.
10. Sulphur and zinc fertilizers may be top dressed if necessary, especially if the
recommended doses of these fertilizers have not been applied basally.
Future requirement of fertilizer for crop production
If the increasing population of Bangladesh will feed itself, food production levels of our country
will have to increase drastically.
™ Replacement of local T. Aman varieties by modern T. Aman varieties in some areas
™ Limited increase in the area of modern Boro varieties
™ Supplementary irrigation needs to be ensured in some drought prone areas during T. Aman
season.
All the three pointed implications require more assistance in fertilizer use development to get a
higher yield from a piece of land. The total estimated requirement for commonly used 5 fertilizers
for rice production is about 3.03 million tonnes to 2010. The estimation of individual fertilizer
levels is provided in Table 10. If 25% of total fertilizer is consumed by other crops, the cumulative
fertilizer requirement will be 3.79 million tonnes.

Conclusion: With a view to increasing crop production and in compliance with the govt.
policy to attain self sufficiency in food, fertilizer recommendation in this guide has been targated
to high yield goal. A total of 157 recommendations have been made of different cereal, fiber, pulse,
root, spice, fruit, flower and fodder crops. Flower and fodder crops have been newly added to this
guide. Regarding cropping patterns, fertilizer recommendation has been made for a total of 294
cropping patterns. Efforts have been to cover all the major cropping patterns existing at the farm
level in different AEZs of the country. Besides fertilizer recommendation has also been made for
a total of 23 multiple cropping commonly practiced in the country.