BioOrganic Fertilizer - The Way Forward

"Give a man foodstuff and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to grow food and provide the proper support, you feed him for a lifetime."  

The NOMI approach to improving agriculture productivity is:

  • To provide a sustainable, climate-friendly technology in the manufacture of bio-fertilizer and bio-fungicide.
  • To facilitate the adoption of improved agricultural practices, through farmer field school method, building on existing farmer networks and employing local “lead farmers” as key trainers.
  • To find ways to ensure that farmers can earn incomes comparable to those of secondary and tertiary sector workers.
  • To make available 'farmers access' to mature technology and modern sustainable methods to boost production.

 

 

Chemical fertilizer use linked to climate change

 Greenpeace calls for fertilizer reduction policies

Manila, PHILIPPINES January 24, 2008— The use of chemical fertilizers is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and contributes greatly to climate change, Greenpeace said today during the Philippine launch of the report Cool Farming: Climate impacts of agriculture and mitigation potential.
The report is the second to be released by Greenpeace to reveal how the unbridled use of chemical farm inputs pose harm to people and the environment. Last November 2007, the environment group presented  evidence that drinking water in key agricultural areas in the Philippines and Thailand was already contaminated by toxic pollution from nitrate fertilizers.

"The environmental impact of chemical-dependent farming has reached critical levels. Greenpeace has shown that farm chemicals work against nature and create more problems than solutions. This is a call for our government to support a future of farming that is sustainable," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Daniel Ocampo.

'Cool Farming', written for Greenpeace by Professor Pete Smith from University of Aberdeen, a lead author on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, is the first to detail both the direct and indirect effects farming has on climate change. The report outlines how agriculture is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and recommends urgent changes if it is to be transformed from a key contributor to climate change into a carbon sink, or reservoir that absorbs, rather than creates, greenhouse gas emissions.

The report describes how energy- and chemical-intensive farming has led to increased levels of greenhouse gas emissions, primarily as a result of the overuse of fertilizers, land clearance, soil degradation, and intensive animal farming. The total global contribution of agriculture to climate change, including deforestation for farmland and other land use changes, is estimated to be equivalent to between 8.5 -16.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide or between 17- 32% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

Fertilizer overuse is responsible for the highest single share of agriculture’s direct greenhouse gas emissions, currently equal to some 2.1 billion tons of CO2 annually. Excess fertilizer results in the emission of climate change-causing gas nitrous oxide (N2O), which is some 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

"The saturation bombing of farmland with fertilizers can and must be stopped. As a start, the government must phase out chemical fertilizer subsidies and implement fertilizer reduction policies ensuring that farmers use less fertilizer with more precision," said Ocampo. "Governments must stop supporting environmentally destructive practices in agriculture, and focus instead on assisting farmers in converting to ecological and sustainable farming systems."

Cool Farming details a variety of practical, easy to implement solutions which can reduce climate change, including reducing fertilizer use, protecting the soil, improving rice production and cutting demand for meat, especially in developed countries. The report can be downloaded at: http://greenpeace.org.ph/cool-farming.
 
 

Climate Change & Peak Oil Mean that Organic Farming Must Replace Energy & Chemical Fertilizer-Intense Industrial Agriculture

  • Soaring prices and climate change expose fertilizers as economically and environmentally unsustainable
    PRESS RELEASE, Soil Association, 12 June 2008

As oil and gas prices rise so does the price of artificial chemical fertilizers - the lynch-pin of industrial agriculture's claims to be 'efficient' [1]. In the UK, the price of nitrogen fertilizer has doubled over the past year to around £330 per tonne. With oil currently at over $130 a barrel and with OPEC warning it could reach $200 by the end of the year, it has been suggested that fertilizers could hit GBP500 a tonne. At these prices, the claimed efficiency of fossil-fuel and fertilizer dependent industrial farming begins to collapse.

Robin Maynard, campaigns director at the Soil Association said, "Rising oil and gas prices and the imperative of cutting greenhouse gases to curb climate change expose industrial agriculture's dependency on artificial fertilizers as both economically and environmentally unsustainable. Farmers here in the UK and in developing countries would do better for themselves and the planet by shifting to sustainable organic farming that builds fertility using the Sun's energy and Nature's own fertilizer factory, clover."

The environmental imperative of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80% across all sectors to curb dangerous climate change make intensive agriculture's dependence on nitrogen fertilizer unsustainable:

  • The manufacture of nitrogen fertilizer is the main use of energy in agriculture; accounting for 37% of total energy use [3]
  • Globally, agriculture is the single largest source of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide - which is over 310 times more damaging than carbon dioxide
  • The fertilizer industry is the largest industrial user of natural gas in the EU
  • Each tonne of fertilizer made, gives off 6.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases
  • Fertilizer manufacture is also a major user of water, consuming 37 tonnes of water to make 1 tonne of nitrogen fertilizer.

Organic farming does not use artificial chemical fertilizers, instead building soil fertility through crop rotations and particularly the use of clover to fix nitrogen naturally from the atmosphere using the Sun's energy and photosynthesis. Clover can fix 200 kg of nitrogen per hectare over a year. Average applications of N fertilizer across all arable and grassland are 110 kg/ha (arable = 150kg/ha; grassland = 77kg/ha) [4].

Contrary to the claims of the agrochemical and GM lobby, many farmers in developing countries are increasing their yields and building fertility without expensive, environmentally damaging artificial fertilizers. Farmers in Ethiopia have achieved 5-fold increases in yields by supplementing traditional methods with modern organic techniques, such as composting.

Dr Tewolde Berhan Egziabher, Head of the Ethiopian Environment Agency said, "In a harsh climate and a largely agricultural economy we need to rediscover an approach to agriculture which supports long-term food security and protects soil fertility. Organic farming is the way forward for Ethiopia, and it is also an approach which can help to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions caused by mechanized farming and the petrochemical inputs in richer countries."

Danish research presented to a UN Conference in 2007  found that in sub-Saharan Africa, a conversion of up to 50 per cent of agriculture to organic methods would be likely to increase food availability and decrease food import dependency. Organic yields can fall off to begin with, typically by only 10-15 per cent, but it brings greater benefits in that poor farmers no longer have to rely on expensive, imported fertilizers and pesticides. Other published research by the University of Michigan reviewing over 290 studies found that in developed countries, organic systems on average produce 92% of the yield produced by conventional agriculture. In developing countries, however, organic systems produce 80% more than conventional farms.

Commenting on the research, Alexander Mueller, assistant director-general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said considering climate change will target the world's poor and most vulnerable, "a shift to organic agriculture could be beneficial.".

Organic Consumers Association - 6771 South Silver Hill Drive, Finland MN 55603

 

 

How Pricey Fertilizer Worsens Food Crisis

Fertilizer Is Being Priced Out of Reach for Many of the World's Farmers

By Russell Blinch

 

It powered the Green Revolution and helped save millions from starvation, but now one of the most important tools on the farm is being priced out of reach for many of the world's growers.

With food prices soaring and stocks thinning, the world is in need of bumper harvests but once one of most bountiful of commodities, fertilizer, is becoming scarce and expensive.

It is estimated that one third of the protein consumed by humans is a result of fertilizer. So high prices and spot shortages are yet another stress on the world's ailing food system.

"You can't really expect a bigger harvest if you will not use fertilizer, but the cost is killing us," rice farmer Jaime Tadeo in the Philippines told Reuters, adding that a bag of fertilizer now sells for nearly 1,800 pesos, or $43, up from less than 1,000 pesos a year ago.

"It's totally out of our control because if prices of oil continue to shoot up, the prices of fertilizers will also increase. I am afraid, many of us would not be able to afford it."

Fertilizers are like vitamins for soil and consists of three main types, nitrogen, potash and phosphate. Because some fertilizers such as nitrogen require energy to produce they track energy prices. But other kinds are just in high demand, even though experts say the shortages are not due to a lack of supply.

The rising price is a burden on rich and poor farmers alike as they represent a big investment upfront, despite high world prices for crops. With enough rain and heat, fertilizer will help farmers reap historically high grain prices. But poor yields would leave them struggling to pay for next year's supplies.

But now with high fertilizer and fuel prices, some worry many of the gains could unravel, putting strain on all farmers but especially in the developing world.

2008 Reuters News Service.  

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