Prospect of Developing Soil Health Index in Bangladesh
Journal Title: Current Investigations in Agriculture and Current Research - Year 2019, Vol 6, Issue 2
Abstract
National economy of Bangladesh yet highly depends on agricultural development. The country has to produce foods for its everincreasing population from limited cultivable areas even from unfavorable ecosystems. Food demand has compelled the farmers to grow two to four crops in a year with and without balanced fertilizers and thus soil health has deteriorated. Soils of many parts of the country are deficient in essential macro- or micro-nutrients viz. potassium, zinc, boron, sulphur, and molybdenum. Different national research institutes have analyzed most representative soils of the country but no soil quality index (SQI) is available. The SQI needs to be developed on the basis of primary soil physical, chemical and biological attributes. These indices will help to classify soil capability to plan for sustainable agri-management strategies in terms of water and fertilizers management, adoption of appropriate tillage practices, residue and solid waste management. The development of pedo-transfer functions for characterizing soil moisture and soil nutrients characteristics are important for its subsequent use. There is also need to develop soil managers for handling problem soils in terms of crop choices and land resources management. Existing literature in Bangladesh is enough to develop SQI for subsequently relating with the resources and inputs management, crop simulation models for land use planning, inputs and resource management, yield estimates, climate change and environmental impact assessment. In the present article we have tried to link SQI for operational advisory service to the farmers for maximizing profits and also to ensure the environmental safety and sustainable soil healthSoils of Bangladesh are comparatively fertile despite of low to medium organic matter (OM) content. Major parts of Bangladesh (80%) are on Delta formed by the sedimentation. Soil Resources Development Institute (SRDI) has identified 500 soil series in Bangladesh and provides the information in terms of basic soil physical and chemical parameters; while National Agricultural Research System (NARS) and university scientist have created database on soil biology and different soil attributes. Some services like fertilizers recommendation for crops and cropping systems, optimized water management strategies, management of problem soils are being carried out, but need more precision and efficiency. Most of the recommendations are location/region specific and there is a need to develop decision platforms to provide solutions, which are relatively more spatio-temporal and independent. A total 21 general soil types have been recognized for the common users in the country (Table 1). However, there are 30 agro-ecological zones in the country that delineate crop suitability based on soil-weatherwater and land topography.
Authors and Affiliations
Jatish C Biswas, M Maniruzzaman, UA Naher, T Zahan, MM Haque, MH Ali, W Kabir, N Kalra, S Rahnamayan
Keywords
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- EP ID EP596000
- DOI 10.32474/CIACR.2019.06.000234
- Views 89
- Downloads 0
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