Digital Fertilizer Recommendation Software for Ministry of Agriculture of Bangladesh

Bangladesh has developed “Digital Fertilizer Recommendation Software” for Soil Resource Development Institute of Ministry of Agriculture. This software has been developed by a big software company e-generation. It was developed in cooperation with Katalyst, a market development project, Grameenphone and Banglalink to facilitate farmers’ selection of different fertilizers and their precise dosage for different crops through digital platforms.

Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture C.Q.K. Mustaq Ahmed formally launched the pilot phase of the system. The chief guest, C.Q.K. Mustaq Ahmed said yearly food-grain production of the country would increase by 4 million tons to 24 million tons from present production of around 20 million tons with the countrywide use of the system.

Katalyst General Manager James Blewett, DAE Director General Md. Sayeed Ali and BARC Executive Chairman Dr. Wayes Kabir were present as the special guests at the function, presided over by SRDI Director Md. Hamidul Haque. eGeneration CEO Shameem Ahsan and Project Coordinator Md. Aksadur Rahman was also present.

eGeneration CEO Shameem Ahsan believes that the benefit of the service would twofold — increase in yield and decrease in production cost. The use of fertilizer as recommended by the system will increase average yield of rice by 20-25 percent and other crops by 10-15 percent. eGeneration is proud to be a partner of Government to develop one of the major software for farmers and help Government realize their vision of Digital Bangladesh.

Two leading mobile phone operators, Grameenphone and Banglalink are working as channel partners in disseminating information on fertilizer recommendation by offering their respective ICT-enabled platforms i.e. GPCIC (Grameenphone Community Information Centers) and Banglalink Jigyasha 7676. 

Farmers can use either of the platforms to have precise fertilizer recommendations by providing five basic information– name of the crop, type of land, name of the union, upazila and district.

A central database covering the entire country (459 upazilas) soil sample has been developed as the feedstock of the system. But under the pilot phase, farmers of 30 upazilas can avail themselves of the service.

The addresses of the websites for having fertilizer recommendation are “frs.srdi.gov.bd” and “www.frs-bd.com”, username: srdi & password: srdi. Everyone is welcome to check the fertilizer recommendation service.

Src: http://www.dhakanews.info/digital-fertilizer-recommendation-software-for-ministry-of-agriculture-of-bangladesh/