Use Guti urea, save money, get more yield
FIROZ GAZI / DRIKNEWS
The government has recently increased the price of urea to Tk 20 from Tk 12 a kg saying its price went up in the international market. From farmers' perspectives, this means a lot of burden. However, this problem could be addressed by using a technology called urea deep placement or UDP. If farmers use this technology they can save about 30-40% of urea. Usually, farmers of our country spread granular urea and broadcast it in the field. But, in UDP, the fertilizer is placed beneath the surface of soil after five to seven days of paddy plantation. In this technology, the granular urea is compressed in small machines and the size of it is made 1.8 grams and 2.7 grams. Each briquette has to be placed at the centre of four hills having space of 20 cm X 20 cm. When farmers broadcast granular urea thrice throughout rice season, use of Guti urea once throughout the growth of paddy plants is enough. The government through Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) has been extending this technology for the last several years. In this Boro season, IFDC introduced UDP technology in 68 upazilas. For each hectare, 170 kilograms of Guti urea was used, which is about 30 to 40 percent less than that of granular fertiliser. We found the crop yield in the Guti plots per hectare 300 to 2,400 kilograms more than that of the fields where granular urea was broadcasted. The reason for more yields is in Guti urea plots plants get adequate nitrogen, while in the case of granular urea, 60 to 70 percent of the nitrogen is lost in the air or for leaching and runoff. I would, therefore, suggest the farmers to use Guti urea and urge the government to take the technology to more farmers to save money, but get more yields. Shahjahan Ali, Gongadas Guha Road, Kanchary Ghat, Mymensingh
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