Application Gap of Fertilizers in Boro Rice Cultivation: A Field Level Study

The objectives of this study were to determine the application gap of fertilizers in boro rice cultivation and to explore the relationships between farmers’ selected characteristics and their gap of fertilizer application. Besides, an attempt was made to identify the causes associated with application gap of different fertilizers and their probable remedies in boro rice cultivation. Data were collected from a sample of 100 farmers selected through simple random sampling procedure from Shankarpur Union of Jhikargachha Upazila under Jessore District during 5 August to 19 September, 2009. The findings revealed that 37% of the farmers had low application gap followed by 34% having high application gap of urea in cultivating boro rice. In case of TSP, more than one half (52%) of the respondents had low application gap and 30% had medium application gap but 44% of the respondents had medium application gap compare to 37% having low application gap in terms of MoP application. Among seven characteristics of farmers - age, education, farm size, annual income, credit received, extension contact and knowledge of using fertilizer, only two characteristics such as extension contact and knowledge of using fertilizer were found to have significant negative relationship with their application gap while the rest of the variables did not show any significant relationship. The causes of application gap of using fertilizers were high price of fertilizers, lack of credit facilities, and lack of adequate supply in time, poor fertilizer quality, and inadequate dealerships. Adequate credit facilities, timely supply of fertilizers and open market sale of fertilizers were the most important remedies opined by the farmers to minimize the gap.