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

CHINA
Production
1961 : 109 million tonnes
1992 : 404 million tonnes
Area spared
Area used
USA
Production
1961 : 164 million tonnes
1992 : 353 million tonnes
Area spared
Area used
Million ha
Million ha
0
50
200
150
100
300
250
0
25
100
75
50
200
150

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Mineral Fertilizer Use and the Environment
45
17. Partners in environmentally sustainable
fertilizer use
there an outline of useful roles for each group so
that their contribution adds to a collective
movement in the direction of sustainable
development.
Coordination within the fertilizer industry is
the role of associations such as IFA, but the
fertilizer industry cannot be considered in
isolation. It is an important, but not the only
agricultural input and the purpose of all the
inputs is to enhance the production of agricultural
products. The market for the latter is subject to
the demand of consumers. Like the fertilizer
industry, therefore, also consumers have a
responsibility to society and to their environment.
At least twelve categories of institutions are
involved in the establishment of environmentally
sustainable fertilizer use:
1. Farmers’ associations.
2. Fertilizer manufacturers and distributors.
3. Fertilizer associations, national and
international.
4. Other input suppliers and their associations;
seeds, plant protection products etc.
5. The agricultural marketing sector, food
processors, distributors and retailers.
6. Banks and credit institutions.
7. Educational establishments.
8. National Governments. Ministries of
agriculture and of environment - but other
Ministries such as planning, health and labour
have a regulatory role.
9. Governmental research and advisory services
are particularly relevant to the fertilizer sector.
10. Inter-governmental and United Nations
organizations such as the European
Commission, FAO, OECD, UNEP, UNIDO,
World Bank.
Ideological disputes on the use of mineral
fertilizers should not be allowed to distract
attention from the main problem, which is that
the inefficient use of mineral fertilizers
represents a waste of resources, a large economic
loss and may contribute to significant
environmental problems. Improvements in the
efficiency of fertilizer use are also likely to
reduce the environmental impact.
In the developed countries the efficiency of
fertilizer use is increasing, and should continue
to increase, but this is not the case in most
developing countries. The aim must be to
optimize agricultural production per unit of
fertilizer applied, while applying the required
quantities of fertilizers to satisfy the world’s
agricultural requirements. How could this be
achieved?
Fertilizers are now indisputably in the centre
of the debate on food, environment and society.
Farmers apply the fertilizers in the field.
Fertilizer companies also impact on society and
the environment through the manufacturing
process. In between is the entire supply and
distribution chain, with a multitude of
organizations, institutes, and individuals. There is
also research/development and marketing.
What contribution can each of these elements
make to the global movement towards
sustainability that world society is now
attempting?
The fertilizer industry consists of many
interlocking organizations, manufacturers,
distributors, institutes, programmes and
associations, as well as individuals. Each
organization is to some extent constrained in
what it can do because part of the supply chain
is outside its control. Yet there is no common
view of how synergies can be created, nor is

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46
Mineral Fertilizer Use and the Environment
11. Non-government organizations.
12. Donor organizations - bilateral and
multilateral.
In the case of mineral fertilizers, there are
significant problems associated with their under-
use, over-use and incorrect use. In many
countries there are inadequate research and
advisory activities in place. Neither the private
sector nor the public sector alone can resolve
these problems. Cooperation and participation by
the entire supply chain is needed for sustainable
development.
In some fields, a more global vision is being
adopted. For example, the 1994 inter-
governmental conference in Cairo on world
population examined the food-population
equation not in simple rich-poor, north-south,
hungry-overfed terms, but as a series of complex
relationships between (1) development to
maintain and enhance living standards (2)
reduced population growth and (3) greater
environmental protection.