Mineral Fertilizer Use and the Environment International Fertilizer Industry Association United Nations Environment Programme

10.4. Integrated plant
nutrition systems, IPNS
In 1996 IFA published a document prepared by
R. Dudal entitled “Plant Nutrients for Food
Security”, drawing attention to the importance of
the effective management of plant nutrients as a
major component of agricultural development. A
substantial part of the document is concerned
with integrated plant nutrition systems (IPNS) and
related subjects. He defined Integrated Plant
Nutrition as “an approach which adapts plant
nutrition to a specific farming system and particular
yield targets, the physical resource base, the available
plant nutrient sources and the socio-economic
background”.
The sources of plant nutrients may be mineral
fertilizers and/or biological nitrogen fixation and/
or organic materials, depending on the
circumstances.
Recommendations of an FAO-IFFCO (Indian
Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative) International
Seminar on IPNS for Sustainable Development
held in New Delhi, India, in November 1997
were as follows:
•
The development of IPNS requires an
improved service to the farmers, in the form
of technical advice, inputs, credit, marketing
facilities, public investment in agriculture.
IPNS should:
•
address both increased productivity and
increased profitability for farmers, with special
attention paid to the alleviation of poverty in
rural areas,
•
integrate the maintenance of natural
resources and rehabilitation of these resources
where needed and the enhancement of
productivity in agriculture,
•
be system-oriented and should in particular
take account of the interactions between plant
nutrient supply and water supply, between
plant nutrient supply and the control of pests
and diseases,
•
improve the availability of energy for the rural
population, in order to save fuel wood and
organic materials used as an energy source,
•
be science based, associating agronomy,
ecology and social science,
•
use a “Farming Systems” approach, not
limited only to cropping systems.