Agricultural Productivity Sustainability And Fertilizer Use

Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth and development and a key agricultural input-but in excess it can lead to a host of problems for human and ecological health. Across the globe, distribution of fertilizer nitrogen is very uneven, with some areas subject to nitrogen pollution and others suffering from reduced soil fertility, diminished crop production, and other consequences of inadequate supply. Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle provides a global assessment of the role of nitrogen fertilizer in the nitrogen cycle. The focus of the book is regional, emphasizing the need to maintain food and fiber production while minimizing environmental impacts where fertilizer is abundant, and the need to enhance fertilizer utilization in systems where nitrogen is limited. The book is derived from a workshop held by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) in Kampala, Uganda, that brought together the world's leading scientists to examine and discuss the nitrogen cycle and related problems. It contains an overview chapter that summarizes the group's findings, four chapters on cross-cutting issues, and thirteen background chapters. The book offers a unique synthesis and provides an up-to-date, broad perspective on the issues of nitrogen fertilizer in food production and the interaction of nitrogen and the environment.

The purpose of this book is to provide a balanced scientific review of the environmental and sustainability issues relating to fertilizer use and how its environmental impact can be minimized. The book is suitable for undergraduate and college students taking courses in soil, crop and environmental science as well as for agricultural advisers and extension workers, and farmers themselves. It will also be accessible to a more general audience concerned with food production and the environment.

The International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers or Fertilizer Code was developed to increase food safety and the safe use of fertilizers. The Fertilizer Code aims to address issues of global importance, thereby contributing to the implementation of some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). It essentially provides a locally adaptable framework and a voluntary set of practices to serve the different stakeholders directly or indirectly involved with fertilizers. It is expected that these stakeholders will contribute to sustainable agriculture and food security from a nutrient management perspective, by adhering and help implementing the voluntary guidelines and recommendations provided. The Fertilizer Code is the result of a broad and intensive consultation process initiated in December 2017, unfolded until February 2019, as recommended by the Committee on Agriculture and finally endorsed by the 41st FAO Conference in June 2019.

The cropping system is one of the important components of sustainable agriculture, since it provides more efficient nutrient cycling. As such, balanced fertilization must be based on the concept of sustainable crop production. Feeding the rapidly growing world population using environmentally sustainable production systems is a major challenge, especially in developing countries. A number of studies have highlighted the fact that degradation of the world's cultivated soils is largely responsible for low and plateauing yields. Soil is lost rapidly but only formed over millennia, and this represents the greatest global threat to nutrient dynamics in agriculture. This means that nutrient management is essential to provide food and nutritional security for current and future generations. Nutrient dynamics and soil sustainability imply the maintenance of the desired ecological balance, the enhancement and preservation of soil functions, and the protection of biodiversity above and below ground. Understanding the role of nutrient management as a tool for soil sustainability and nutritional security requires a holistic approach to a wide range of soil parameters (biological, physical, and chemical) to assess the soil functions and nutrient dynamics of a crop management system within the desired timescale. Further, best nutrient management approaches are important to advance soil sustainability and food and nutritional security without compromising the soil quality and productive potential. Sustainable management practices must allow environmentally and economically sustainable yields and restore soil health and sustainability. This book presents soil management approaches that can provide a wide range of benefits, including improved fertility, with a focus on the importance of nutrient dynamics. Discussing the broad impacts of nutrients cycling on the sustainability of soil and the cropping systems that it supports, it also addresses nutrient application to allow environmentally and economically sustainable agroecosystems that restore soil health. Arguing that balanced fertilization must be based on the concept of INM for a cropping system rather than a crop, it provides a roadmap to nutrient management for sustainability. This richly illustrated book features tables, figures and photographs and includes extensive up-to-date references, making it a valuable resource for policymakers and researchers, as well as undergraduate and graduate students of Soil Science, Agronomy, Ecology and Environmental Sciences.

Most of the world's hunger and poverty occurs in rural areas. The use of fertilizers could improve agricultural productivity in these areas. However, many developing countries attach a low priority to the subsistence / smallholder sector, particularly in disadvantaged areas. This publication summarizes the information from 21 countries: the crops on which fertilizers are used, the social and structural context, appropriate fertilizer application rates and their profitability, arrangements for supplying fertilizers to farmers and for marketing their produce, credit facilities, and research.

This book describes many important principles of fertilizer management and the environmental pollution problems due to the indiscriminate soil fertilization rate. The long-term impacts of organic or mineral fertilizer use have implications on soil fertility, crop yields, water quality, climatic change, greenhouse gas emissions, etc. Twelve chapters provide the state of the art of some important topics on subsistence agriculture, modern agronomy, and technological improvements which have sharply increased yields from cultivation, with a special emphasis on the sustainable management and environmental impact of commercial and nontraditional fertilizers. Without a doubt, this book is a valuable contribution to the agricultural sciences and it would not have been possible without the invaluable contributions, immeasurable acknowledgements, and recognized expertise from the authors.