IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013 - 17
Reduced fertilizer use would lead to the following
improvements, in terms of environmental impacts:
1) Reduction in soil fertility
2) Chemical imbalance in soil
3) Water pollution
4) Health related hazards7
Additional impacts8 of the use of the fR Sare:
■ reduced use of pesticide - It was reported that a
side effect of the reduced use of fertilizer was the
growth of hardier plants. These plants seemed
to have a stronger natural resistance to pests and
thus there was a reduced requirement for pesticides, further reducing costs to the farmers.
■ reduced pollution of ground water - Another
secondary effect of reduced fertilizer use was a
reduction in the run-off polluting effect of fertilizer on ground water. Since this type of pollution
is of increasing significance in Bangladesh, the
possibility of a substantial reduction in fertilizer
use (estimated at up to 20%) would potentially
have a substantial impact on overall water pollution in rural areas.
■ reduced risk to farmer health - a final potential
impact was an overall improvement of farmer's
health. fertilizer use and particularly pesticide use
were direct causes of many conditions damaging
to the health of farmers and their families. Reductions in fertilizer and pesticide use would result
from widespread use of the fRS.
Challenges with the System
There appears to be the general perception among
Bangladesh farmers that there is a direct and positive
correlation between the amount of fertilizer added to
the soil and the amount of crop received. This has led
to over-use of fertilizer with a number of negative consequences including soil damage through over fertilizing, additional cost burden on the farmers, reduced
yield because of over fertilization and diminished
soil quality, among others. The major challenge with
the fRS is how to dramatically increase its usage by
farmers. It would appear that those who use the system, with few exceptions, are extremely positive and
indicate significant financial benefits as a result, with
few or no negative effects. Anecdotally and based on
limited survey results, there are indications that those
who use the system once, choose to use the system
repeatedly as a central element in their overall farming
practices.9
However, even with these positive results and with
the associated positive word of mouth, the usage of the
system remains infinitesimal in relation to the potential usage overall among small and medium farmers
in Bangladesh. The associated benefits both for the
individual and at a national level of reduced costs for
fertilizer importation and increased gross revenues
from exports of foodstuffs (and increased levels of
food security overall) remain as yet unrealized.
The challenge would appear to be how to overcome
the native (and quite understandable) conservatism of
small farmers and associated risk a version, i.e., the
reluctance of farmers to try something radically new.
This is particularly evident in instances such as where
there is a very real potential impact of failure on farmers and their families as they have little or no surplus
or savings to fall back on should a new approach fail.
Shifting farmer perceptions away from this
apparently common-sense position has proven to be
exceptionally difficult and farmers have proven quite
unwilling to trust third parties in this area, given how
little margin for error that they have with their subsistence agriculture. If their yields are significantly
reduced, they may not produce enough food to feed
themselves and their family and they may then go
hungry, there being no crop insurance available for
farmers in Bangladesh.
A possible way forward however, is indicated by the
close and trusting relationship that the DoA's Agricultural Extension service reportedly has with the farmers
and the overall trust that farmers have in the Bangladesh government. Recommendations in this area coming from government sources are more likely to be
accepted than those coming from any other source.10
This suggests that if (or when) the Extension service
becomes fully committed to the implementation of the
fRS and begins to recommend and support its usage in
the course of their interactions with individual farmers,
the use of the system is likely to increase dramatically.
Monitoring and Evaluation - Results
Measurement
To date (since late 2009) there have been roughly 2500
usersof the recommendations - as of March 2012, 3101
hits, with some duplications and testing data - and
2658 unique recommendations. The vast bulk of these
were a more or less direct response to the promotional
campaign launched at the local level in the 30 upazilas where the system was initially made available for
implementation. Once the initial promotion was finished the numbers of users declined drastically. (Some
2000 users during and immediately after the campaign
and only 500 in the two years since then).11
Those who implemented the recommendations benefited from a reduction in their fertilizer costs, an increase
10
According to interview with Katalyst.
According to Katalyst, there may be some additional difficulties with the data
in that no names are required for obtaining recommendations and data was not
captured for roughly 6 months during the past two years.
11
8
This is based on internal and field interviews with Katalyst staff and others.
Internal fRS Survey.
9
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE
|
fALL 2013
|
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