GPNM – a contribution to FAO’s sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI)

GPNM – a contribution to FAO’s sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI) Christian NolteFAO, Senior Officer, Plant Nutrition and Soil Fertility Management Linda ColletteFAO, Team leader, Ecosystem Management (AGPME) Plant Production and Protection Division

FAO’s strategic framework 2010-2015 • to address the main trends and their likely impacts: • growing pressure on natural resources • increasing demands to provide food, feed and energy commodities • climate change effects • 3 global goals • -> represent the fundamental development impacts • (reduce hunger, eliminate poverty, sustainable management of resources) • 11 strategic objectives • -> contribute to achievements of goals • (related to topics, such as crop / livestock production, fisheries, forests, etc.) • 8 core functions • -> represent the critical means of action • (monitoring trends, information & knowledge management, advocacy, etc.) • 2 functional objectives • -> provide the enabling environment • (effective collaboration and administration)

FAO’s Strategic Objective A: Sustainable Intensification of Crop Production promotes crop production intensification using an ecosystem approach, including technical and policy assistance, in four key dimensions: • increasing agricultural productivity • through improved use of resources …, supported inter alia by • conservation agriculture and integrated nutrient management • enhancing sustainable crop protectionthrough IPM • managing biodiversity and ecosystem services • identification and use of mechanisms for valuing agricultural biodiversity and ecosystem services, in addition to sound agronomic practices: crop-, soil-, nutrient- and water-efficient management • strengthening livelihoods

GPNM on soil fertility management Fig. 1. Global, national and local instruments, treaties, conventions and codes influenced by FAO’s Agricultural Production and Ecosystem Management Team

Examples of current/planned project involvement: • ongoing • Conservation agriculture • N-fertilizer application in rice – ex: Bangladesh • Fertilizer use in FAO’s technical cooperation / emergency projects • planned • Nutrient recycling from waste water and human waste • Establishing a database on organic fertilizers

Long-term no-tillage increases grain yield by improving the soil-N status especially in low-input systems Fig. 2. Wheat yield at different N-fertilizer application rates in no-till systems in Canada source: Lafond and Clayton (2003)

Source: Nolte et al. (unpublished data from short fallow systems in Southern Cameroon)

Long-term no-tillage increases crop yield, despite reducing fertilizer application rates Fig. 4. Corn and soybean yields in no-till systems in Brazil source: adapted from Frank Dijkstra Farm, Ponta Grossa, Brazil, 1998; cit. in Derpsch 2005

… however: there is a large body of “grey literature” in CA and a number of observed yield effects need a better scientific underpinning; • future activities will concentrate on documenting effects of CA on: • Nutrient stocks and flows • Total energy consumption • Soil biodiversity

Disk-plowing practices decrease both SOM and CEC Fig. 5. SOM and CEC influenced by DSPSC systems on a ferralitic soil in the Cerrados.

CAGR (%): population * = 2.30 rice area = 0.51 rice yield = 1.88 food supply = 0.03 pesticides = 5.11 fertilizer = 10.65 urea = 11.12 * population growth 2010-2050 = 0.77% Fig. 6. Cumulative growth rates and fertilizer use in Bangladesh (base year 1961) source: FAOSTAT

UDP technology was introduced in Bangladesh in the late 1990s; by 2006 >500,000 farmers had adopted UDP. • Urea super granlues (USGs) are • placed 7-10 cm into the soil • between plants. • paddy yields: + 20-25% • income from rice: + 10% • urea expenditures: - 32% • UDP reduces urea use by 78-150 kg/ha • increases paddy yields by 0.9-1.1 t/ha • net return of UDP vs broadcasting urea = $188/ha

Rice plants use only 30% of broadcasted urea (Dobermann 2000); the rest is lost by volatilization and run-off. The ultra-deep placement (UDP) technology doubles N-use efficiency. The technology involves forming urea super granules (USG) into briquettes. This is done locally, creating additional employment. Ten Bangladeshi manufacturers have produced and sold 2,000 briquette-making machines, costing between US $1,500- $2,000. As of 2010, IFDC estimates that farmers use USG on 1 million (9.5%) of the total 10.5 million ha planted to rice.

Source: Amit Roy 2003. More rice with reduced loss of urea. 71st IFA conference, Philadelphia, PA, May 26-29, 2003

Potential Efficiency Gain in Urea

FFS participants in Bangladesh IFDC, USAID and Bangladeshi farmers are now scaling up the UDP technology to smallholder farmers in Bangladesh as part of President Obama’s new Feed the Future initiative. The goal is to reach 2 million farmers in five years and increase rice yields by 67%. [Visocky, M. 2010. Fertilizer System Revolutionizes Rice Farming in Bangladesh. Frontlines, October 2010 ] According to IFDC this technology is spreading fast in Bangladesh and is being investigated by 15 other nations, including more than a dozen in sub-Saharan Africa.

“A core theme of the GPNM is that many benefits can be realised if opportunities for improvements are identified, realized and scaled up.” … and it’s always a good idea to start looking for opportunities in your own house … … I would have liked to give you a figure about the fertilizer use in FAO’s TC/TE projects, but unfortunately aggregate data are not available … … however, FAO’s operationally active TC/TE projects have at present a budget of 1.2 billion US$, of which 600 million US$ are allocated to 300 projects in Africa. But, not in each project is fertilizer purchased.

So, let’s do a little back-of-the-envelope exercise about possible improvements in a large ongoing TC project. EU food facility project: set up as a consequence of rising food prices in 2008 and run at present in 22 countries; supplies large amounts of fertilizer for increasing local food production, such as 15-15-15 NPK, urea, CAN, DAP, etc.

Of the ~25,000 tons urea (equivalent to ~11,000 tons N), ~50% was supplied to Pakistan and about ~60% used for rice = 3,987 tons of N. Yet at present: TC/TE projects in FAO do not use this technology (Dr. Ram Misra, pers. communication). • Remedies: • information dissemination; development of best-practises guidelines • In-house training of FAO’s technical officers • field training of local counterparts

1. Project NURTURING - Nutrient recycling from water treatment plants in the Middle East and North Africa Submitted for funding to IFAD Objective: Reduce negative impacts of mismanagement of sewage sludge by promoting the market development of safe Biosolids products in 5 pilot projects (Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, Syria) Sewage treatment stations produce different types of sludge (activated or stabilized). This project will focus on Biosolids (stabilized sludge) with reduced water content. Nutrient content of sewage sludge … Fertilizer consumption was only 73 kg ha-1 in 2002/03 in the MENA region compared with 202 kg ha-1 in East Asia.

2. Project: IFAD’s initiative on productive sanitation … nothing new: in the 1st century, the Roman emperor Vespasian introduced a urine tax on public toilets in order to make money …

A global database on organic fertilizers • Idea was put forward by Robert Mayo, Senior statistician, FAO • should include soil-improving plants • … some information is in the ECOCROP database • should include existing national / regional data; • for example TSBF-CIAT has developed one, IITA has tried it in early 1990s, there may be data in Asian countries, • difficult, but could be approached from the animal side, i.e., calculate manure production based on nutrient retention • -> link-up with Harinder Makkar, FAO-AGA

GPNM – a contribution to FAO’s sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI)

GPNM – a contribution to FAO’s sustainable crop production intensification (SCPI)

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