Book of Abstracts
11th IFOAM
Scientific Conference
11-15 August 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark

Abstract front page
Subject index
Athor index

Extra Papers

Soil Organic and Fertility Management and Dissemination E2

Shah, W.A.; Hoque, I.

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Bangladesh has made considerable progress in rice production in the past decades. The population growth is yet higher than the production of per capita food grains. The higher pressure of population and technological changes have increased the HYV cultivation in one hand, remarkable depletion of soil fertility status reflected in the other hand. However, resiliency is a vital feature of farming anf their consistent vulnerability to the loss that comes from natural disasters and the variability of the climate have prompted rural people to live below the poverty line. In the crop production sector, the loss of economic power for purchasing cash inputs resulted variability of organic and inorganic fertilizer use, influence of social elites has diverted and deviated the farmer from land, and all these pose key limitations to increased and sustain soil and land fertility and its productivity.

In Bangladesh, the most traditional extension approach for technology dissemination was followed in the past decades and found that in most of the cases it is not cost effective and efficient. These has created several external and internal problems in the society such as decrease in food production and in the soils like reduced soil fertility.

A different group extension approach in Bangladesh on a pilot bases in five agro-ecological regions, 1994-95 through the integrated Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Management Project (SFFP) funded by the Danida and implemented by the Department of Agricultural Extension. This was found an excellent group extension approach for demonstration of soil fertility improvement and their dissemination. It has increased active participation of the farmer, increased soil fertility and crop productivity.

The Government of Bangladesh expended the approach in 71 thanas in major agro-ecological regions in 1995-96. This paper explains the new process and methods followed, the nature and extent of farmers participation and the level of soil fertility improvement. Further, the paper also identifies problems of the new participatory extension approach and their suggestions recommended for the farmers and the policy planners.