The country's rice production is likely to suffer a shortfall of about 0.6 to 0.8 million tonnes as the Agriculture Extension Department (AED), delayed carrying out timely analysis of locally produced zinc sulfate fertiliser.
In recent findings, the National Agriculture Research Centre (Narc) had declared nine samples of zinc sulfate fertiliser unfit for crops, which are being produced locally in the country.
Sources told Business Recorder that the rice yield losses have been estimated to the tune of 860,000 tonnes which, translate into losses of about Rs 14 billion annually. The corrective action can still be taken by doing extensive fertiliser sampling and putting an immediate hold on to the products declared sub-standard by the NARC.
The use of inferior quality of zinc sulfate being produced locally and later supplied and used by farmers and growers would have an adverse affect on up-coming yield of rice in the country.
The source in agriculture research said, the zinc deficiency is the most widespread in the country and the deficient soils in Punjab stand at 87 percent in rice and wheat system, 37 percent in NWFP, 47 percent in Sindh, while 92 percent in Balochistan respectively.
The loss of zinc in the soil can not be compensated with any other fertiliser including urea and DAP (Di Ammonium Phosphate). In case, the zinc is not supplied to the crops, the yields generally see a decline of about 10 to 15 percent in addition to deterioration of quality of the product.
On the one hand, the importers give a bad name to the country and hamper the economy of the farmers and the country. On the other hand, they reject the rice crop produced without application of required doze of zinc sulfate.
Rice is a valued cash crop after cotton, which earns substantial foreign exchange up to the tune of $1.2 billion for the country. It accounts for 5.4 percent of value added in agriculture and 1.3 percent of GDP. It is cultivated on an area of 2.2 million hectares with an annual production of 5.5 million tonnes.
For obtaining enhanced yields, it is essential that proper farming practices be adopted. "Nutrition is one of the key farming practice that determines the yield and quality of the production," the source said.
Plants need certain nutrients in major quantities (macronutrients) and certain nutrients that are required in smaller amounts (micronutrients). Both of these nutrients are equally essential to obtain better yields and quality, irrespective of the quantities being applied.
It may be mentioned that the micronutrient research gained importance in the early 1970s by initiation of Pakistan Agriculture Research Centre (PARC) sponsored micronutrient projects at NIAB (Faisalabad), AARI (Faisalabad) and ARI (Quetta).
In the late 1970s, launching a nationally co-ordinated research programme and inclusion of NWFP and Sindh provinces in the project enhanced the scope of micronutrient research.
The micronutrient research at NARC, Islamabad was initiated in the early 1980s. The prevalence of zinc deficiency in flooded rice is well recognised for more than three decades.
The first micronutrient disorder in the country was recognised by two scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (Yoshida and Tanaka, in 1969) who established that the cause of Hadda disease of rice in the Punjab was due to zinc deficiency.In rice, increase in paddy yield with zinc application varies from 12 percent in Irri varieties to 10 percent in basmati. In certain experiments, even greater yield increase had been reported, which can be attributed to the native zinc levels of the soil.
"A good indicator of economics of fertiliser use is obtained by calculating Value: Cost Ratio (VCR), ie the gross return per unit expenditure on fertiliser. In fertiliser use, one rupee spent should produce extra crop worth at least Rs two to three and the higher the better," the source added.
The economics of zinc use present a very rosy picture it varies from 4:1 to 16:1 in basmati varieties and 4:1 to 6:1 in Irri varieties. These factors have combined to make zinc as a very essential input for the rice crop. A number of micronutrient fertilisers keep floating in the local market from time to time.
These include multi-nutrient formulations, inorganic salts and chelates, materials meant for soil application and foliar spray and very well described products to shabily-presented ones. In packing, they come from a few kg pouches to a few kilogram bags or small plastic bottles to jerry cans.
Since Zinc is an essential element for crop growth and yield a lot of traders have started to supply fake varieties of zinc sulfate to cheat poor farmers which, in turn reduces the crop production and hamper the targeted GDP growth rate which is 80 percent dependent of agriculture production.
While a few micronutrient products may be according to the claimed composition, most of the products promoted as micronutrients are in fact adulterated or totally fake. These have been verified and checked through analysis as well as field trials.
In a very recent sampling analysis; nine Zinc brands samples out of a total 14 brands, analysed by NARC were found to be unfit, as they did not have the zinc percentage claimed on them. Some brands did not even posses one- percent zinc.
The analysis of the 14 samples and the consistent use of fake and adulterated zinc are resulting in poor crop health increased disease and depressed rice yields.
Its high time that the officials in the agriculture department take a very stern action against the booming business of fake brands and should also take appropriate action against those who mislead the farmers and damage his precious cash crop as well as the national interest.