Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh.
Agricultural Economics Division, Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute, Ishwardi, Pabna, Bangladesh.
PLoS One. 2022 Jul 28;17(7):e0272146. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272146. eCollection 2022.
Intensive cropping systems with diverse cropping patterns present a challenge for nutrient management on smallholder farms. Government-endorsed recommendations for crop fertilizer use are designed to assist farmers achieve profitable and balanced nutrient inputs, but it is unclear how closely farmers follow these recommendations. We identified farmers' current nutrient use gaps (overuse or underuse) relative to the Government-endorsed recommended nutrient doses in two cropping patterns in three representative Agro-ecological Zones of Bangladesh. A total of 330 farms were surveyed in 2019 from three farm size categories (referred to as large-, medium and small-scale) and their gaps in nutrient use were assessed relative to Government-endorsed Fertilizer Recommendation Guides (FRG) published in 2012 and in 2018: FRG-2012 and FRG-2018. The large- and medium-scale farms used 11-16%, 80-90% and 21-30%, respectively, over-doses of NPK in the cropping season under fully rice-based cropping pattern relative to FRG-2012 recommendations, while the over-dose levels were much lower for small-scale farms. Small-scale farms used much less than recommended S, Mg, Zn, B and organic manure (OM) rates relative to FRG-2012. The FRG-2018, which increased N and K recommendations but decreased the P recommendation for rice crops relative to FRG-2012, shows that all farms can decrease the dose of P (by 50%) while small-scale farms need to increase the dose of N (7%), K (16%), S (20%) and to apply Zn in the fully rice-based cropping pattern. On the other hand, the farms could greatly reduce NPK (19%, 86% and 44%, respectively) use while increasing S (14%), Mg, Zn, B and OM use relative to FRG-2018 in the pattern with the high-value potato crop. To increase crop profitability, enhance food security and save Government treasury in the Eastern Gangetic Plain enabling approaches are needed to effectively communicate the benefits of balanced nutrient use practices to farmers.
集约化种植系统和多样化的种植模式给小农场上的养分管理带来了挑战。政府认可的作物肥料使用建议旨在帮助农民实现盈利和平衡的养分投入，但目前尚不清楚农民对这些建议的遵循程度。我们确定了在孟加拉国三个代表性农业生态区的两种种植模式下，相对于政府认可的推荐养分剂量，农民当前的养分使用差距（过度使用或使用不足）。2019 年，我们从三个农场规模类别（称为大规模、中规模和小规模）中调查了 330 个农场，并根据 2012 年和 2018 年发布的政府认可的肥料推荐指南（FRG）评估了他们在养分使用方面的差距：FRG-2012 和 FRG-2018。在完全基于水稻的种植模式下，与 FRG-2012 建议相比，大、中规模农场在种植季节分别过度使用了 11-16%、80-90%和 21-30%的 NPK，而小规模农场的过度用药水平要低得多。与 FRG-2012 相比，小规模农场对 S、Mg、Zn、B 和有机肥（OM）的使用量远低于推荐量。FRG-2018 增加了水稻作物的 N 和 K 推荐量，但减少了 P 推荐量，这表明所有农场都可以减少 P 的剂量（减少 50%），而小规模农场需要增加 N（增加 7%）、K（增加 16%）、S（增加 20%）并在完全基于水稻的种植模式下应用 Zn。另一方面，与 FRG-2018 相比，在高价值马铃薯作物模式下，农场可以大大减少 NPK（分别减少 19%、86%和 44%）的使用，同时增加 S（增加 14%）、Mg、Zn、B 和 OM 的使用。为了提高作物盈利能力、增强粮食安全并为政府节约资金，需要采取措施，有效地向农民传达平衡养分利用实践的好处。
