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Acknowledgements

It gives me great pleasure in recognizing the work carried out by the contributors in synthesizing the vast knowledge of basic Soil Science, Plant Nutrition and IPNS into a simple document. My thanks are due to Mr. S.B. Rajapakse, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Dr. S.S.B.B.D. Jayawardene, Director General of Agriculture for encouraging me to compile this information.

Much credit goes to Mr Peter Hegenbarth and the FADINAP for the assistance provided to organize the relevant information and to Mr D.R. Wijayathileke the Director of the National Fertilizer Secretariat for all the assistance, cooperation and coordination carried out in making this manual a success.

My thanks are due to all those who carried out the proofreading, typing and providing photographs and other numerous tasks.

R.M. Ariyaratne
Peradeniya
December 2000

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Preface
Sri Lanka has no alternative but to improve the productivity of arable lands to increase agricultural production with the constraint of low per capita land availability. However, efforts to improve crop yields through the use of chemical fertilizer was successful only up to certain level. National average yields of paddy and several other food crops have been stagnating over the last decade requiring new thinking on how to augment national yield levels. Imbalanced use of major plant nutrients and the overuse of chemical fertilizers in certain areas of the country have had negative impacts on crop productivity. Adaptive research has already demonstrated that Integrated Plant Nutrition Systems (IPNS) approach can not only improve agricultural productivity, but also can rectify problems associated with the application of chemical fertilizers.

IPNS approach is now recorgnized and promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Even though some farmers already practice IPNS in farming, there was no systematic approach to popularize this concept in the country. The Fertilizer Advisory Development Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (FADINAP) under ESCAP initiated assistance to develop IPNS suitable to Sri Lanka under a regional programme.

Initial activities involved a literature survey on IPNS in Sri Lanka and a field survey on IPNS practices of farmers in the country. With these studies it was possible to develop a concept paper on appropriate IPNS practices for Sri Lanka.

This provided the necessary information to develop a draft training manual, which was reviewed at a national conference held in September 2000 by the senior Agricultural Extension Officers of the Agricultural Extension Service. This training manual is a product of a combine effort of a number of officers who worked as a team.

I wish to keep on record our gratitude to FADINAP and also to Mr Manfred Jeebe, former Team Leader, FADINAP, Mr Peter Hegenbarth, Team Leader, FADINAP who assisted us to make this a success. We owe our thanks to senior extension officers from the provinces for the valuable comments in finalizing this manual.

The purpose of this training manual is to train agricultural extension officers to launch an IPNS programme in the country, which would augment the productivity of food crops in an environmentally sustainable manner. I earnestly hope that this will become a frequently sought document by the extension staff.

D.R. Wijayatileke
Director
National Fertilizer Secretariat