Researchers at Jagannath University (JnU) say they have developed a technology that saves an average of 22 per cent of the nitrogen fertiliser a crop is given. The remote sensing-based tool, N-FertiSmart, recommends how much nitrogen to apply and where, according to what the land actually needs.

The technology was developed jointly by the university's departments of botany and computer science and engineering (CSE). The project was run with support from the ICT Division of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, and its prototype is on show at the Bangladesh Innovation Fair 2026.

The researchers say the tool analyses satellite and remote sensing data to establish the nitrogen requirement of different parts of a field, then recommends how much fertiliser to apply by location and need.

According to the project's research data, the Fertilizer Recommendation Guide 2024 advises about 174kg of nitrogen fertiliser a hectare. Using N-FertiSmart, the researchers say, that can be brought down to about 135.70kg — an average saving of roughly 22 per cent a hectare.

Professor Dr A M M Golam Adam of the university's botany department, a member of the research team, said applying more nitrogen than a crop needs raises a farmer's costs, while the excess nitrogen that reaches the environment can harm aquatic biodiversity and aquatic animals.

Conventional fertiliser recommendations are updated only periodically, he said, whereas a satellite-based method can set the nitrogen rate each year against the state of the soil and the denitrification rate. That would let farmers avoid over-application and could ease the country's seasonal fertiliser shortages a little.

Working on the project were Dr Md Ataul Gani and Dr A M M Golam Adam of the botany department, Professor Dr Mohammad Nasir Uddin of the CSE department, and student researchers Biplab Biswas of CSE and Md Nazim Sharif of botany.

Source: Samakal (Jagannath University correspondent)