PESHAWAR, May 5: Experts have said that agricultural lands are fast depleting due to construction of houses, factories and markets while the country needs to increase output to meet the needs of growing population.

In such a situation, they said, farming on scientific lines could help the country face challenges posed by the WTO under which a country is required to ensure quality, food security and availability of products to people at competitive rates.

The experts also urged farmers to get the quality of water, soil and leaves of fruit-trees tested every six months and properly use fertilisers and water to increase production.

“Farmers should not irrigate crops in the sun. They should not excessively water their crops before or after application of fertilisers because in this way about 30 per cent of fertilisers are lost due to evaporation,” said Dr Riaz Ahmad Khattak, Dean of the NWFP Agricultural University.

Speaking at a one-day seminar organised by the Pak-Arab Fertilisers to educate farmers on ways and mean of raising level of agricultural yield, he said vegetables and fruits had lost their taste because of depletion of underground natural elements and it was need of the hour to adopt technical skills in farming.

Head of the Water and Soil Testing Institute, Lahore, Dr Shahid Mahmood, said that the government had established soil fertility institutes at the district level to facilitate farmers in matters relating to agricultural productivity.

He said farmers lost half of their produce due to lack of technical know-how first through production phase and then during transportation of produce to markets.

He said there were many time-tested ways to preserve crops, fruits and vegetables. Crops, he said, needed 19 elements, including air, water, fertilisers and carbohydrates etc for growth, but they should be used in balanced quantity. He said that due to lack of rains, most of the farmers depended on tube-wells and tube-well water should be tested every six months and opinion of experts be sought for further improvement.

Regional Manager of the Pak-Arab Fertilisers, Hamad Raza Jamshed, was of the view that the agricultural productivity had registered enormous increase during the past 50 years mainly due to the use of chemicals.

One acre of land was now producing 2,540 kg of wheat against 812 kg produced by it 50 years ago, he said, adding that rice produced on one acre of land was 968 kg 50 years ago but now it yielded 2775 kg.

However, he said, Pakistan sill lagged far behind many third-world countries because of the lack of information on the part of farmers. Pakistan’s prosperity and economic development was directly linked with vibrant agriculture, he added.