The 2-day Annual Technical Workshop of the Soil Resources Development Institute – 2025 has begun on Sunday, 01 June, at Farmgate, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The chief guest at the inaugural ceremony was Dr. Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture. The special guests at the workshop were Dipankar Biswas, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Md. Chaiful Alam, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension, and Dr. Nazmun Nahar Karim, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council. The workshop was presided over by Dr. Begum Samia Sultana, Director General of the Soil Resources Development Institute.
Speaking as the chief guest at the workshop, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian said that dealers are supplying adulterated fertilizers in many places. This is destroying the health of the land and reducing production.
The Agriculture Secretary said that just like the human body, the soil must be healthy. Otherwise, production will be disrupted. Fertilizer subsidies account for 70 percent of the agriculture budget. If fertilizer use can be reduced there, the state will save a lot of money.
He also said that farmers often use excess fertilizer and pesticides on leased land to get back their capital. This is causing permanent damage to the land. Awareness should be raised to prevent this trend.
The Khulna divisional presentation at the workshop said that in the current fiscal year, 3,387 soil samples were tested and it was found that farmers are using 3-4 times more fertilizer than required. Although half a kilogram of zinc is sufficient, 8 kg is being used. Even lime is being sold as sulfur to cheat, resulting in burning of tree leaves.
The Sylhet Division’s presentation said that 95 percent of the region’s land has now become acidic. The use of phosphorus is increasing here. From 2020 to 2024, 53 percent of 260 zinc fertilizer samples tested were found to be adulterated.
The Barisal divisional presentation said that while 83.63 percent of the fertilizer is good, the remaining 16.37 percent is adulterated.
The Chittagong divisional presentation said that excessive use of urea is increasing phosphorus levels in the soil.
The Rangpur divisional presentation said that 2,780,000 hectares of soil in the Rangpur region is also suffering from acidity problems.
Md. Mamunur Rahman, Dr. Nurul Huda Al Mamun, Dr. Md. Faruk Hossain and various officials of the Soil Resources Development Institute were present at the workshop.
In addition, professors from various universities, heads of institutions, former directors general, former soil scientists, heads of various departments, directors of the Soil Resources Development Institute, chief scientific officers, chief scientific officers, senior scientific officers, scientific officers and other soil scientists were present at the workshop.
At the workshop, scientists presented various soil data, research, agricultural services, and research reports.
