Bid to boost use of 'Guti' urea
Sunday, 6 January 2008
FE Report
The government has made a renewed effort to boost the use of urea super granule (USG), popularly known as 'Guti' urea, to help reduce the country's growing dependency on urea import by preventing its misuse.
The promotion and application of the cost-effective technology remained lull since it was first introduced in the country in the late 1980s due to multifarious reasons including lack of farmers' awareness coupled with poor patronisation from the government.
Besides, insufficient USG-making machines and non-availability of urea for the producers were also responsible for the situation.
Such observations came out Saturday at a workshop on "Guti urea: A win-win technology for farmers", jointly organised by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and USAID at the city's Khamarbari.
Agriculture Adviser C.S Karim was present at the workshop as the chief guest while Agriculture Secretary M Abdul Aziz, Information Secretary Jamil Osman, USAID Mission Director in Bangladesh Denise Rollins, senior officials from the DAE and representatives from various print and electronics media were present on the occasion.
The Channel-i directors Shykh Seraj presented the keynote paper highlighting the role of media for promoting the Guti urea in the country.
Agriculture adviser told the workshop that the government with the funding support from the USAID has already taken up a project for boosting the use of USG at the farmers' levels.
"Initially, around 40 per cent of the total rice cropping area in 230 upazilas of the country is expected to come under the scheme," he said, adding that the ultimate goal of the project was to bring 80 per cent of the existing rice growing land within the next three years.
Apart from the USAID-supported project, a process is underway to launch a Tk 56.50-million project for motivating farmers and creating awareness among them about the benefit of USG.
The workshop was informed that the deep placement of USG not only helps farmers lessen their overall fertiliser use by at least 40 per cent in comparison with the tradition broadcasting application of non-granular ones, but it also enhances the rice yield by around 1.2 tonnes per hectare.
The participants also observed that a significant portion of urea is wasted due to the application in the traditional broadcasting method.
The government has made a renewed effort to boost the use of urea super granule (USG), popularly known as 'Guti' urea, to help reduce the country's growing dependency on urea import by preventing its misuse.
The promotion and application of the cost-effective technology remained lull since it was first introduced in the country in the late 1980s due to multifarious reasons including lack of farmers' awareness coupled with poor patronisation from the government.
Besides, insufficient USG-making machines and non-availability of urea for the producers were also responsible for the situation.
Such observations came out Saturday at a workshop on "Guti urea: A win-win technology for farmers", jointly organised by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and USAID at the city's Khamarbari.
Agriculture Adviser C.S Karim was present at the workshop as the chief guest while Agriculture Secretary M Abdul Aziz, Information Secretary Jamil Osman, USAID Mission Director in Bangladesh Denise Rollins, senior officials from the DAE and representatives from various print and electronics media were present on the occasion.
The Channel-i directors Shykh Seraj presented the keynote paper highlighting the role of media for promoting the Guti urea in the country.
Agriculture adviser told the workshop that the government with the funding support from the USAID has already taken up a project for boosting the use of USG at the farmers' levels.
"Initially, around 40 per cent of the total rice cropping area in 230 upazilas of the country is expected to come under the scheme," he said, adding that the ultimate goal of the project was to bring 80 per cent of the existing rice growing land within the next three years.
Apart from the USAID-supported project, a process is underway to launch a Tk 56.50-million project for motivating farmers and creating awareness among them about the benefit of USG.
The workshop was informed that the deep placement of USG not only helps farmers lessen their overall fertiliser use by at least 40 per cent in comparison with the tradition broadcasting application of non-granular ones, but it also enhances the rice yield by around 1.2 tonnes per hectare.
The participants also observed that a significant portion of urea is wasted due to the application in the traditional broadcasting method.