Seeder Fertilizer Drill Securing Market in Barisal, Bangladesh

Seeder Fertilizer Drill in Barisal, Bangladesh

The local service providers of Barisal are thrilled with the seeder fertilizer drill (SFD) marketed and sold by the agricultural retailer RFL, one of the private sector partners of CSISA-MI. Compared to a traditional power tiller, this two wheel tractor attachment can be used to seed and fertilize in lines while preparing land. With minor modification, it can also be used for conservation agriculture based crop management, which lowers production costs, conserves soil moisture and can help boost yields. Using SFD results in per hectare savings of around 30 percent in fuel, US$168 in cost and about 60 hours in labor.

Strip tillage is a conservation system that results in reduced tillage, improved soil moisture and cost savings for farmers, by tilling only small strips of land into which seed and fertilizer are placed. When practiced in the long term, these methods can improve soil quality.

Since CSISA-MI started in July 2013, 57 local service providers have adopted the SFD, which is also known as a power tiller operated seeder (PTOS) mostly in Rajbari, Faridpur and Patuakhali districts. These LSPs have cultivated 132 hectares of land for over 205 farmers so far, mostly for wheat, pulses, sunflowers, mung beans and maize.

“One pass with an SFD is enough, whereas at least three pass is required with traditional power tiller,” shared farmer and service provider Rezaul Karim Pannu from Patuakhali district. “We are hopeful to have 300 kilograms more mung bean per hectare this season.”

According to RFL’s dealers, who are marketing the SFD, the machine’s prospects in Bangladesh are good. Md. Muzahidul Islam, proprietor of New Islam Enterprise and a RFL dealer, said, “although this is a very new technology in the country, it will have a great effect in our agricultural sector due to its traits of time and cost savings, as well as increase in production.”

To read CSISA-Mechanization and Irrigation Newsletter, click here

Posted on Bangladesh-news, News & Announcements, August 21, 2014


Copyright © 2017 CIMMYT

CSISA Website

Disclaimer

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this website and its contents, CIMMYT and its implementing partner organizations for CSISA – IFPRI and IRRI – assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. All information and features described herein are subject to change without notice. This website may contain links to third-party websites. CIMMYT is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. This website is providing these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement by CIMMYT of the linked sites or their content.

Terms of Use

Copyright © 2017 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
CIMMYT holds the copyright to all CSISA publications and web pages but encourages use of these materials for non-commercial purposes, unless specifically stated otherwise. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is hereby granted without fee and without a formal request provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and full citation on the first page. For copyrights not owned by CIMMYT, express permission must be pursued with the owner of the information. To republish or redistribute for commercial purposes, prior permission is required.