FAO Representative Minà Dowlatchahi presented the Soil Fertility Atlas for Punjab to Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, USAID Mission Director Jerry Bisson and Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Dr. Yusuf Zafar at the Project Concluding and Atlas launch ceremony held at the National Agricultural Research Center in Islamabad.

The publication aims at monitoring and sustaining soil fertility and strengthening the agricultural sector. The Atlas is an essential tool that can help small-scale family farmers better manage their precious renewable natural resource and enhance productivity and incomes and contribute towards the eradication of hunger and food insecurity by making agriculture in Pakistan more productive, while protecting the soil through sustainable agriculture practices, SDG2.
This launch is part of a partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), USAID and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The Soil Fertility Atlas for Punjab provides a comprehensive account of the soil types and their current fertility status, native best management practices, fertilizer use trends at the farm-gate level, and management strategies for normal and constrained soils for resource-based improvement.
The Atlas is based on the agricultural statistics, field-based assessment and source data collected from provincial and federal departments and agencies.
Series of workshops/ consultations were conducted for gathering information and document experience from the national and provincial stakeholders, including growers of major crops like wheat, rice, cotton, maize and sugarcane.
The loss of soil fertility in many developing countries poses an immediate threat to food security. Appropriate use of fertilizers on soils of low natural fertility makes it possible to grow more and promote crop diversification.
The Soil Fertility Atlas for Sindh province was launched earlier this month in Karachi.