Rapid Soil Fertility Research Institute, Lahore

Overview

The Soil Fertility Research Institute (SFRI) deals with the subject pertaining Soil Sciences that describes the physical and chemical characteristics of soil as a whole۔ Economy of Pakistan depends on the development of agriculture where as agriculture is dependent on productivity of soil. The improper fertilizer application by our farming community with continual cropping has resulted is decreased crop yield. Moreover, Government established this organization in 1962 etc.

Introduction

The government realizing the situation, commissioned first soil fertility laboratory, in late 1967, by appointing the Agricultural Chemist (Soil Fertility) at Lyallpur (Now Faisalabad) and then establishment of similar laboratories at Rawalpindi (1969), Multan (1973), Lahore, Bahawalpur (1974), D. G. Khan (1996), Sargodha (2001) and Gujranwala (2002)  At the moment there are 8 divisional and 36 district laboratories providing Advisor services for soil, water and plant analysis and one laboratory is providing regulatory fertilizer analytical services under Fertilizer Control Order, 1973 at Raiwind. The fertile lands of Pakistan are ready to feed a population twice that of current Pakistan however, it needs proper management to sustain its health and fertility status. Therefore, the knowledge of nutrient status of a soil is essential to assess the optimum quantity of fertilizer and the best management practices responsible for high yield.The Punjab Fertilizers (Control) Order, 1973 (Amended) was promulgated by Government of the Punjab under provisions of the Punjab Essential Articles (Control) Act, 1973. It will help to control the fertilizer adulteration in the Punjab and ultimately reduce the cost of production. Quality fertilizers will surely increase the crops yield and reduce the pollution problems. The quality of agriculture products has prime importance in international market and for export purposes. To maintain quality, the vegetable, grain and fruit should be free from excessive fertilizer (like nitrate content) and heavy metals. The accreditation of the labs for ISO-17025 provides the analytical facilities of international standards to the government and other stakeholders.

Mission

• Assess fertilizer response in various ago-ecological zones / soil types in order to formulate economic fertilizer recommendations
• Indexation of plant nutrients in soil and plant tissue for monitoring their status
• Evaluate comparative agronomic efficiency of different commercial fertilizers
• Research on popularization of Integrated Plant Nutrition System (IPNS) for sustainable agriculture
• Find out appropriate time and method of fertilizer application in different cropping system
• Popularize the balanced fertilizer use to get economic yield. Advisory services to farming community for economic use of soil, water and fertilizer resources and reclamation of salt affected soils
• Monitoring quality of fertilizers Survey and test the suitability of ground water for irrigation purposes
• Provide analytical service to fertilizer / amendments manufacturers for quality of their products

Research Activities

Following are the research activities of the institute:

Year Wise Research Activities Conducted by Field Wing of Soil Fertility Research Institute

No. of Field Experiments

No. of Publications

Completed

• Development of fertilizer recommendations for various crops under various agro ecological zones through experiments at farmer fields
• Experiments on improvement and maintenance of soil health through compost, manures, green manures etc.
• Testing of new (fertilizer) products in the field
• Provision of Soil, water, fertilizer and plant testing advisory service
• Regulatory role on registration of new fertilizer products
• Control of Citrus decline, citrus canker and citrus scab through micronutrient application technology
• Field Trials on biofortification of Zn and Fe in Wheat and rice crops
• Experiments on burnt and unburnt crop residues on physio-chemical and biological changes in soil
• Analysis of 28 million soil samples under ADP project “Extension Services 2.0”

Activity Name: Fertilizer Research Trials on Farmer’s fields. Kharif trials are in progress in field

Name of team members performing activity

• Dr. Zafar Abbas, ASFO, Bahawalpur
• Muhammad Zahid Khan Nazar, Agri. Officer (Field) Bahawalnagar
• Naimat Ali Field Assistant Circle Kot Samaba, Distt. R.Y.Khan
• Muhammad Idrees Ali Field Assistant Circle Hasilpur, Distt. Bahawalpur
• AsgharAli Field Assistant Circle Bakhshan Khan, Distt. Bahawalnagar
• Muhammad Sajid Iqbal Field Assistant Circle Haroonabad, Distt. Bahawalnagar
• Muhammad Ayub-I, Field Assistant Circle Yateemwali, Distt. Bahawalnagar
• Muhammad Ayub-2, Field Assistant Circle. Bahawalnagar
• Tariq Mahmood, Field Assistant Circle Chishtian Distt. Bahawalnagar
• Muhammad Ashraf Shad, Field Assistant Circle Fortabbas, Distt. Bahawalnagar
• Khalil Ahmad, Field Assistant Circle Dahranwala, Distt. Bahawalnagar

Activity Name: Fertilizer Research Trials on Farmer’s fields.  Kharif trials are in progress in field

Name of team members performing activity

• Mr.Muhammad Akram Assistant soil Fertility Officer, Multan
• Muhammad Aslam, Agri. Officer (Field) Multan
• Muhammad Saleem Bhatti, Agri.Officer (Field) Vehari
• Abdul Rauf, Agri.Officer (Field) D.G.Khan
• Nafeesa Muslim Agri.Officer (Field) Sahiwal
• Waheed ur Rehman,Field Assistant Multan
• Mushtaq Ali,Field Assistant Abdul Hakeem
• Muhammad Munir,Field Assistant Kabir wala
• Wilayat Ali Dogar, Field Assistant Kasowal
• Tahir Abrar, Field Assistant Harappa
• Dur Hussain, Field Assistant Sahiwal
• Riasat Ali, Field Assistant Pakpattan
• Liaqat Ali , Field Assistant Kot Addu
• Abdul Majeed, Field Assistant Chowk Sarwar Shaheed

Activity Name: On-Farm research on various crops for their nutrient requirements and development of fertilizer recommendation for different cropping system

Name of team members performing activity: Kouser Majeed Malik and Sher Afzal Agricultural Officers (Field) at Rawalpindi and Attock district level and field assistants: Muhammad Amjad (Txila), Muhammad Akram (Rwp), Abdul Ghaffar (Hazro), Mansha javaid (Mandibahudin), Muhammad Amir (Lalamusa) at their tehsil levels.

Completed Research Activities

• Developed authentic inventory of 0.500 million running tube-wells for Assessing tube-well water quality to provide data-base for policy makers, planners and researchers
• Micronutrient indexing of the target fruit orchards by sampling and analysing plant charts at recommended growth stages and associated soils.
• Development of Spatial database for soil-climate suitability for crops vegetables and fruits at an enterprise level GIS system for soil and water through Development of web portal for information sharing for agricultural community researcher’s extension workers, farming community, decision and policy makers.
• Established the analysis of disputed fertilizer samples referred to the lab to coordinate with National and International fertilizer analytical labs of private and public sector.

Activity Name: To Explore the Best Np Ratio for Wheat Inperspective Of Present Farmer Budget for Fertilizer (Concluded) PLAN - 64

Name of team members performing activity

• Naimat Ali Field Assistant Circle Kot Samaba, Distt. R.Y.Khan
• Liaqat Ali Field Assistant Circle Faqeerwali, Distt. Bahawalnagar

Activity Name: Nutrients Management in Relation To Disease Control in Citrus Plan - 95

Name of team members performing activity

• Nafeesa Muslim Agri. Officer (Field) Sahiwal
• Dur Hussain Field Assistant Sahiwal

Activity Name: Nutritional studies on macro and micro elements and On-Farm research on various crops for their nutrient requirements and development of fertilizer recommendation for different cropping system

Name of team members performing activity: Shahid Yaqub Naz (EX- ASFO, Rawalpindi), Kouser Majeed Malik and Sher Afzal Agricultural Officers (Field) at their district levels and field assistants Muhammad Amjad, Muhammad Akram, Abdul Ghaffar, Mansha javaid, Muhammad Amir at their tehsil levels.

Achievements

Follow the link for more details of achievement      https://sfri.punjab.gov.pk/achievements

Following are the achievements of the institute:

• ISO-17025 accreditation of 8 divisional and one reference lab.
• 2,670,603 soil samples analysis under the project “Extension Services 2.0 – Farmer Facilitation through Modernized Extension” for site specific recommendations
• Micronutrients Technology on Tunnel vegetable and citrus orchards
• Green manuring of Sesbania in rice wheat system
• Developing fertilizer requirements of vegetable/ high value crops
• Technology at the Doorstep of farmers

Initiatives

• Reclamation of 173221 acres Salt affected land through application of Gypsum on 50% subsidy
• Enhancement of soil organic matter through organic matter enhancement intervention
• To recommend precise potash fertilizer application based on soil mineralogy and K dynamics to improve the crop yield and cost-effective use of K fertilizer
• Scope enhancement of Soil & Water Testing Labs for Research & Reference Lab for ISO-17025 accreditation

Facilities

​Soil & Water Analysis

Services

Following are the services offered by the institute:

Field Wing

Field wing carries out experimentation at farmers’ fields for on-farm research on various crops and cultivars in order to evaluate their nutrient requirements. The data so generated and research findings provide broad base for formulation of general and site-specific Fertilizer Recommendations. These recommendations are provided to extension department for its dissemination among the end users and farming community.

Laboratory Wing

In total 36 Labs are working, one in each district of Punjab province. Out of these 8 Labs for research are working in each Division whereas 28 District level labs had been devolved to respective District. These labs are extending services to the farming community at district level regarding better use of their soil & water resources. The eight labs have the facility of analysis of soil, water, fertilizer, plant tissue etc. and are equipped with modern equipment like HPLC, ICP, GC and Atomic Absorption etc. In addition to the research activities, these labs are extending services to the farming community for efficient use of their soil, water and fertilizer resources. These laboratories are also providing analytical facilities to fertilizer industries and other research institutes.

Testing of Soil, Water and Fertilizer Samples

Description

Currently there are 8 divisional and 28 district laboratories providing advisory services for soil, water and plant analysis and one laboratory is providing regulatory fertilizer analytical services under Fertilizer Control Order, 1973 at Raiwind.

How to Avail Service?

Contact details of all these Laboratories are as under:

Contact Information of Divisional Laboratories

Provincial Reference Fertilizer Testing Laboratory

Allied Stations

Soil & Water Testing Laboratories

Soil & Water Testing Laboratories are working under this department, one in each district of Punjab province. These labs are extending services to the farming community at district level regarding better use of their soil & water resources.These labs are located in following districts:-

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research Lahore

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research Faisalabad

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research Rawalpindi

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research Sargodha

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research, Gujranwala

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research Multan

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research, Bahawalpur

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory for Research Dera Ghazi Khan

• Provincial Reference Fertilizer Testing Laboratory, Raiwind

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Attock

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Bahawalnagar

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Bhakkar

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Chakwal

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Chiniot

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Gujrat

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Hafizabad

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Jhang

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Jhelum

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Kasur

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Khanewal

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Khushab

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Layyah

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Lodhran

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Mandi Bahaudin

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Muzaffargarh

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Mianwali

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Narowal

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Nankana Sahib

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Okara

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Pakpattan

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Rahim Yar Khan

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Rajanpur

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Sahiwal

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Sheikhupra

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Sialkot

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Toba Tek Singh

• Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Vehari

Field Wing

Soil Fertility Offices

• Soil Fertility Officer AARI, Faisalabad
• Assistant Soil Fertility Officer AARI, Faisalabad
• Assistant Soil Fertility Officer, Lahore
• Assistant Soil Fertility Officer, Multan
• Assistant Soil Fertility Officer, Rawalpindi
• Assistant Soil Fertility Officer, Bahawalpur

List of Licences

List of Licences (Manufacturers, Importers & Distributors) Valid up to 05-12-2025

Contact Us