Dear Editor,

I wish to comment on Mr Ramdular Singh’s letter (SN October 19) titled ‘Farmers need TSP fertilizer’ and on the response from Bissasar Chintamanie in SN on October 22 (‘The Burma Research Station deals specifically with rice research and is headed by experienced and qualified personnel’).

As a qualified soil scientist, I have spent the last 18 years improving crop production on infertile soils throughout the Caribbean, South America, Asia and the USA where I am now based. I have investigated problems using advanced scientific laboratory methods, formulated hundreds of specialty fertilizers for Caribbean, American and European fertilizer companies and established field trials in many countries including in Guyana’s rice fields.

Scientific tests and farmer experience clearly show that in Guyana, phosphate fertilizers are needed for rice production; this is a common problem worldwide. How-ever, the international fertilizer industry is replacing the traditional phosphate fertilizer TSP with more cost-effective MAP and DAP which can be used on all crops.

The statement “We cannot produce rice without TSP fertilizer” is partially incorrect. Rice farmers need phosphate fertilizers but it does not have to be TSP; any of the phosphate fertilizers can be used. This misconception may have been caused by a lack of communication.

It was known for almost a year that TSP would be replaced in Guyana but to my knowledge, this was not explained to farmers.

Guyana cannot change the high international cost of fertilizers; the solution is to become more efficient and get more rice for every dollar spent. Since 2001, I have done a number of field and laboratory studies in Guyana together with the Guyana Rice Development Board, Geddes Grant Guyana Ltd and the Fertilizer Corporation of America.

As I reported in the April 2008 edition of The Farmer published by the RPA, we discovered that rice farmers often apply fertilizers at the wrong time and in the wrong way. We also found that in many areas there are additional nutrient problems that must be corrected including low potassium, zinc and boron. Our results clearly show that farmers can get better results adopting balanced fertilization based on the needs of individual fields instead of the ‘one size fits all’ approach now used.

I cannot end without commenting on the GRDB. I have been interacting with them for many years and I think that they have done very good work.

They have developed disease resistant rice varieties that farmers are happily using without knowing how much work went into producing them.

I have also found them very cooperative whenever we wanted to conduct any type of plant nutrition work. I would however like to see them focus more on farmer education and developing demonstrations on farmers’ fields, even if it means reducing their research. There is too much information sitting on the shelves that the farmer has not seen in action.

Yours faithfully,
Dr Terrence Fullerton