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 WHAT
IS NFDC
The National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC) was
set up by the Government of Pakistan (Planning and Development Division)
in December 1977. After a brief period of aid from the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) it has been assisted by the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations with Trust Funds from Norway
(NORAD) upto May 1981, and from the Netherlands upto December,
1997.
NFDC is a multidisciplinary research and development
organization at the federal level that integrates disciplines such as
economic planning, pricing and subsidies, privatization and deregulation,
production and imports, marketing and credit, agronomy and soil science,
research, extension and training.
In co-operation with the various federal and provincial
institutions, NFDC studies all fertilizer-related problems from the
supply source to the farmers' fields, with a view to helping in the
formulation of Government policies and their implementation and to give
support to other institutions.
WHY
NFDC
Bottlenecks in fertilizer imports and production, trade
and use, agronomic efficiency and impact on crop productivity are increasing
both in frequency and intensity due to increasing fertilizer use consumption
in Pakistan crossed the 10,000 nutrient tonnes mark in 1956, the 100,000
nutrient tonnes mark in 1966-67, 1,000,000 nutrient tonnes mark in 1979-80,
2,000,000 nutrient tonnes mark in 1992-93 and touching 3,222,000 nutrient
tonnes mark in 2004-05. Per hectare average fertilizer use for
cropped area increased from about 5 kg in 1964-65 to about 55 kg in
1981-82 and 147 kg in 2003-04.
The existence in Pakistan of a number of agencies and
organizations, working on different aspects of fertilizer production,
trade, research, extension and use made it desirable for the Government
to have neutral institution with the objectives to provide a common
platform.
OBJECTIVES
The current broad objectives of NFDC are:
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To provide objective and comprehensive advice
to all levels of Government, to the fertilizer industry and to
other parties as may be relevant, on all matters related in any
way to the fertilizer sector of Pakistan and its relations with
the international fertilizer community.
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To conduct research studies on physical and economic
returns on fertilizer use to farmers, impact of input prices on
crop output, deregulation/privatization of fertilizer in order
to facilitate policy decisions.
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To conduct fertilizer use surveys at farm level
to monitor fertilizer use by crops, impact on crop productivity,
crop responses to fertilizers and problems faced by farmers.
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To monitor the status of all aspects of fertilizer
use development: production, imports, consumption, prices and
evaluate situation critically for the information and action by
the concerned organizations, so that timely actions can be taken
to effect improvement.
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To promote efficient, balanced and environmental
friendly integrated use of plant nutrients for sustainable agricultural
growth.
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To help upgrade the capability of fertilizer
research, extension and marketing personnel in the transfer of
fertilizer technology.
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To provide a neutral common platform to resolve
contentious issues in fertilizer sector.
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To launch new initiatives in soil fertility and
plant nutrition management.
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PROGRAMMES
AND ACTIVITIES
NFDC's programmes are classified as core activities,
special programmes and areas of special interest and collaboration.
Core
activities: Constitute those regarded as the
central functions of NFDC. These include data base; demand forecasting;
intenrational prices; fertilizer situation reviews; (monthly, seasonal
and annual); special technical notes; fertilizer use surves; crop responses;
fertilizer bibliographic updates; fertilizer esearch reviews, training
courses contributions to and participation in national and international
fora and computerized library documentation and retrival of literature.
Special
programmes and areas of special interest and collaboration include:
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Studies on privatisation in the fertilizer sector
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Fertilizer use development programmes, e.g. integrated
crop nutrition, balanced fertilization and fertilizer use efficiency
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Fertilization in horticulture (e.g. fertigation,
investigations with new products and application techniques)
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Fertilizer advisory services
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Promotion of blends/compounds
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Assist soil testing laboratories
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Establishment of a regional centre on pant nutrition
management and development.
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ORGANIZATIONAL
LINKS
National:
NFDC works in close collaboration with the Federal
Ministries and their executive arms concerned with fertilizer use development.
The most important among these are: Ministry of Food and Agriculture,
its Fertilizer Cell; Department of Plant Protection; Pakistan
Agricultural Research Council, Ministry of Finance and the credit institutions;
Ministry of Industries and Production and the National Fertilizer Corporation
operating public sector fertilizer plants, Ministry of Petroleum and
Natural Resources, etc.
At the provincial level NFDC maintains liaison with
the Provincial Governments, agricultural universities and research institutes,
soil testing and soil fertility laboratories and extension and training
organizations, pesticides associations, importers and distributors,
and testing laboratories, etc.
NFDC works in close liason with private sector fertilizer
producers and marrketing agencies. Some joint activities are being planned.
NFDC is also represented on various committees at national and provincial
level.
International:
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Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of United Nations : NFDC since its establishment
is getting financial as well as technical support from FAO. NFDC
is regarded as a pioneer institution of the FAO Plant Nutrition
Management Service, Land and Water Development Division and is
termed as a `Centre of Excellence’. |
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Agricultural Economics Institute (LEI), Hague, Netherlands :
NFDC and LEI, Hague, the Netherlands have signed a memorandum of understanding for
technical co-operation between both the organizations.
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Fertilizer Advisory Development
and Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (FADINAP) - ESCAP,
Bangkok : NFDC is a technical liaison office for FADINAP
and jointly had carried a number of studies, training programmes
and information management/dissemination in the country.
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International Fertilizer
Industry Association (IFA) - Paris, France : NFDC is a
member of IFA and shares international statistics of fertilizer
consumption, production and trade in addition to studies on Plant
Nutrition Management
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World Phosphate Institute
(IMPHOS), Morocco : World Phosphate Institute and NFDC
work jointly in promotional activities particularly on balanced
fertilization, establishment of soil test crop response calibration
studies.
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International Fertilizer
Development Centre (IFDC), Muscle Shoals, USA : NFDC has
close technical collaboration with IFDC in human resources development
and exchange of technical know-how.
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Egyptian Fertilizer Development
Centre (EFDC), Egypt : NFDC has signed a MOU with EFDC
for technical co-operation in the field of fertilizer use development
activities.
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International Potash Institute
(IPI), Switzerland : IPI and NFDC has close technical collaboration
and some joint studies on potash use development are carried out
in the country.
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Other International Institutions
: NFDC shares information with number of national/regional
institutions such as : Fertilizer Association of India, Fertilizer
and Pesticides Authority, Manila, Philippines, National Fertilizer
Secretariat, Sri Lanka and Arab Fertilizer Association, Cairo.
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