How site-specific fertiliser boosts yields, cuts waste
On average, farmers’ average profit increased by $140 per hectare, which was achieved with about 18kg less nitrogen fertiliser per hectare. PHOTO | FILE
In what they described as “the first comprehensive systematic review comparing the site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) approach to farmers’ practise within smallholder cereal crop production systems in Africa and Asia,” the team of scientists said they had found that using this method “generated 12 percent higher yield and 15 percent greater profitability compared with traditional farmer practise.”
In the study titled, "Co-benefits of nutrient management tailored to smallholder agriculture," published in the September Global Food Security-Elsevier journal, the researchers said they compared the two fertiliser management practises for maize, rice and wheat. Farmers used on average 10 percent less fertiliser nitrogen, thereby improving nitrogen use efficiency and reducing losses to volatilisation, leaching and runoff, which lead to nitrogen pollution to the environment.
