Need for fertilisers

Need for fertilisers
Fertiliser
Expected nutrients from one person


There is an enormous need for fertilizers in developing countries. Of the roughly 850 million people living in chronic hunger in the world, smallholder farmers constitute half the population. Food insecurity, especially in Africa, is primarily a result of the lack of adequate food production.

First and foremost in Africa, there is a great need to enrich arable land, since crops are diminishing each year due to losses of plant nutrients from the soil. In Africa, there is no tradition of using fertilizers and this factor, combined with old soil, leaves the ground, in many cases, extremely poor in nutrients.

The lack of agricultural production in Africa, which causes undernourishment, has been identified as one of the major reasons for Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY). Agricultural productivity in developing countries has been surveyed by several global organizations, e.g. FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) and IWM (International Water Management institute).

Today, mineral fertilizers are imported from the western world and are extremely expensive. More than half of all those who lack toilets live in rural areas where cultivation possibilities might be great. Cultivation also takes place in cities. For example, Nairobi produces 60% of all cultivated food within the city’s boundaries. Refugee camps are often established on nutritionally poor areas of land which are difficult to cultivate and where people have difficulty in arranging their own subsistence cultivation and thus become entirely dependent on aid for their upkeep. The addition of fertilizers and organic material is required so that land in these areas might be, to some degree, cultivatable.

In Asia, human excrement has been used as fertilizer for thousands of years, e.g. there has been a tradition of locating toilets directly above fish cultivation ponds. Restrictions on the use of excrement have been introduced in recent years but have had no major impact in rural areas, where old traditions continue. As a consequence, contagious diseases take a heavy toll, both through water and food.

Links:
SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences