According to the Soil Resources Development Institute (SRDI), about 42% of the total arable land areas – which is around 43.4 lakh hectares – currently lacks the standard proportion of organic matter in the topsoil. “The presence of organic nutrients determines the soil health,” Md Delowar Hossain Molla, director of SRDI, told the Dhaka Tribune. Nitrogen rests in soil in both organic and inorganic forms, and over 90% of the soil nitrogen is associated with soil organic matter. The SRDI records also show that around 3.7 million hectares of land is facing phosphorus deficiency, while 2.72 million hectares lack potassium, 3.31 million hectares lack sulphur, 275,000 hectares lack zinc, 2.49 million hectares lack boron, and 300,000 hectares lacking both calcium and magnesium. Because different crops extract different types of soil nutrients.”

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 04, 2017 19:30 UTC