{"id":5590,"date":"2026-03-09T06:45:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/?p=5590"},"modified":"2026-03-09T06:45:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:45:40","slug":"rs1-3bn-project-planned-to-improve-soil-fertility-crop-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/?p=5590","title":{"rendered":"Rs1.3bn project planned to improve soil fertility, crop productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>ISLAMABAD, Mar 09 (<a href=\"http:\/\/abc.net.pk\">ABC<\/a>): The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) plans to launch a Rs1.3 billion five-year climate-smart project aimed at improving soil fertility and crop productivity across the country.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Titled \u201cNational Bio-Fertilizer and Composting Program for Improving Soil Health and Crop Productivity,\u201d the initiative will run from July 2026 to June 2031, according to an official document available with <a href=\"http:\/\/wealthpakistan.com.pk\">Wealth Pakistan<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The project falls under the thematic areas of natural resources, climate-smart agriculture, soil fertility and soil health, integrated nutrient management, biofertilizers and soil microbiology.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It will be implemented through the Land Resources Research Institute (LRRI) of the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad, in collaboration with provincial research and extension departments. PARC Agro-Tech Company (PATCO) and private-sector biofertilizer companies will participate under a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The initiative aligns with the 5Es Framework, the 13th Five-Year Plan, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the National Agriculture Innovation and Growth Project (NAIGP). It seeks to promote climate-smart agriculture and regenerative soil health management, reduce chemical dependency, and strengthen farmer resilience and food security.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The program aims to enhance national food security, soil health and climate resilience by scaling up farmer-level adoption of quality-assured indigenous biofertilizers, compost and organic amendments. It will operate through a nationally coordinated, climate-smart and PPP-enabled delivery framework designed to support sustainable and regenerative agricultural systems in Pakistan.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Among the key deliverables, elite Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) strains will be authenticated, conserved and documented in the National Culture Collection of Pakistan (NCCP). A national quality control and certification system for bio-fertilizers and compost will be used to ensure product standards and build farmer confidence.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Farmers will be provided with standardized integrated nutrient management packages along with application guidelines. Functional public-private delivery partnerships will be established to facilitate access to bio-inputs, while demonstration plots will be established and evaluated across agro-ecological zones to validate climate-responsive nutrient management packages.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The project will also focus on producing and disseminating extension and communication materials and training human resources across public and private sectors to strengthen institutional capacity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>By promoting indigenous bio-input technologies, restoring soil health and improving crop quality, the initiative is expected to contribute to sustainable productivity growth and long-term resource conservation through coordinated national implementation and public-private collaboration.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD, Mar 09 (ABC): The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) plans to launch a Rs1.3 billion five-year climate-smart project aimed at improving soil fertility and crop productivity across the country. Titled \u201cNational Bio-Fertilizer and Composting Program for Improving Soil Health and Crop Productivity,\u201d the initiative will run from July 2026 to June 2031, according to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[818,817],"class_list":["post-5590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","tag-crop-productivity","tag-rs1-3bn-project-planned-to-improve-soil-fertility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5592,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590\/revisions\/5592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}