Hyderabad: Precision agriculture — a farming method in which fertilisers are applied according to the nutrient needs of different parts of the same field rather than spreading the same quantity everywhere — could help Telangana’s paddy farmers harvest more rice while spending less on fertilisers, a new study has found. Researchers found that matching fertiliser use to the condition of the soil increased paddy yields by up to 26% and almost doubled farmers’ net income.Researchers from Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTAU), SR University and other institutions conducted the study in Ganturpally village of Hanumakonda district. They collected 200 soil samples and discovered that soil fertility varied even within the same field. While some patches already had enough nutrients, others required additional fertiliser.Instead of following the conventional practice of applying the same amount of fertiliser across the entire field, the scientists divided the land into three soil fertility zones using GPS-based soil mapping and computer analysis. Each zone was then given only the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium it actually required.The results showed that farmers could reduce nitrogen use by nearly 39%, potassium by 50%, while some areas did not require any phosphorus fertiliser because the soil already contained sufficient amounts. Even with lower fertiliser use, paddy yield increased from 53 quintals per hectare to nearly 67 quintals per hectare. Net returns also rose sharply, from about ₹50,000 per hectare to more than ₹93,000 per hectare.The researchers suggested that extending such soil mapping to other paddy-growing regions could make rice cultivation in Telangana more profitable and sustainable.
