Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 17:
Out of the total agricultural land area of 2.34 lakh hectares in the State, around 1.95 lakh hectares are said to be acidic in nature.
The only means of saving these acidic land is to use lime powder, Agriculture Officer (Chemistry) of State Agriculture Officer Pheiroijam Rajen has stated while speaking at a one-day farmers' awareness programme held today at Keirak Tomal Makhong Community Hall in Thoubal district.
Giving the key note address of the awareness programme, Rajen informed that the Department has conducted soil testing of the agricultural land in different parts of the State.
In accordance to the results of the test conducted, it has come to the conclusion that the PH Value of the soil in over 1.95 lakhs hectares of agricultural land in Manipur out of the total 2.34 lakh hectares is in the range of 4.5 to 5.5.These shows acidic nature of the soil, he said.
The only method of treating these acidic soil is to use lime powder, Rajen informed, adding that after an experiment conducted on using lime powder to treat acidic soil, 25 to 30 sacks of paddy have been produced from one Sangam of paddy field.
Use of lime powder would not only help in increasing the productivity of the land, but also the conserve the fertility of the soil for a long time, he observed.
Toward this objective, the Department would be supplying not just adequate quantity of lime powder to the farmers for utilisation on their acidic agricultural land but would also organise various awareness programmes in this connection, he assured.
MLA of Wabagai AC Usham Deben attended the inaugural function as chief guest.
During the awareness programme, two scientists from the Central Agricultural University enlightened the participating farmers on the scientific method of agricultural practices and use of pesticide as resource persons.