KATHMANDU: The fertility of arable land is being reduced fast due to the excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

According to experts, the reduction in fertility is the outcome of the imbalanced use of harmful chemicals.

"Fertility of soil in hilly and and Tarai regions is being reduced fast due to the lack of essential chemicals in soil like zinc and Boron," said Dr Yagyajjyadhar Khadka, a scientist, who is associated at the Soil Science Department of National Agriculture Research Council (NARC). Farmers, who lack idea about the proper use of fertilisers like Nitrogen, Potassium, Boron and Carbon, are contributing to the reduction in fertility of soil.

According to Khadka, such practice will leave long-term impacts on arable lands. "If similar practice continued for another 50 years, our arable land will face the ultimate risk of turning into barren," said Dr Khadka. "About 70 per cent of farmers have been using chemical fertilisers. The use of organic fertilisers have declined remarkably due to rapid industrialisation," he explained.

According to data, the use of fertilisers may seem to help increase the agricultural yield in the initial years but starts declining gradually after a few years.

"The cultivation of varied crops at a time and in the same land also deteriorates fertility of the land," said Dr Krishna Prasad Poudel, another scientist at NARC.