In the past, all the household trash was placed in a compound, where it would, after some time, rot and serve as fertilizer. Dung or feces from animals at home were composted and applied on the soil. All this resulted in good harvest outcomes. During the late 1960s, the introduction of chemical fertilizers like urea, phosphorus, and potash enabled remarkable rises in crop yields. Soil fertility started to decrease.
Transitioning from traditional tactics to chemical fertilizers
Due to extensive intensive farming using traditional practices,chemical fertilizers became progressively vital in ensuring soil fertility and recording more than expected production levels. Farmers intensified their use of chemical fertilizers -- specifically nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) -- which are key macronutrients. But it is seen that only 30 to 34% of fertilizer utilized by farmers to fertilize soil and safeguard crops is utilized by the crops. The remaining 60% to 70% is wasted and combined with nearby water bodies or other water bodies, thus causing damage to the environment.
A further source of concern is the prevalent misconception among farmers that the application of more quantities of fertilizer results in better yields. Therefore, they apply the fertilizers in huge quantities. However, after application, the fertilizer loses approximately 70% through evaporation into the air as a gas or percolation into the water and soil, thereby polluting the environment. This process not only decreases the soil's fertility but also aggravates global warming since ammonia let into the atmosphere raises its temperature.
Nano fertilizers: A breakthrough in farming
For the sake of curbing global warming, scientists have invented a breakthrough technology known as “nano-fertilizer.” Its dimension is calibrated in nanometers. A nanometer is ten to the negative nine meters, or one billionth of a metre. When a substance is reduced to that infinitesimal level, its potency is multiplied several times, much like atomic energy. Nanoparticles are just a little larger than molecules in terms of their size.
Scientists are optimistic that a nano-fertilizer, made by embracing the world's newest nanotechnology, has the revolutionary potential to boost the yield of crops, decrease the production cost, and uphold the environmental balance.
Jashore University’s success with nano fertilizers
To their delight, Jashore University of Science and Technology Professor Javed Hossain Khan recently succeeded in making nano-urea locally through local technology. US-based organic fertilizer company “Colabio” has signed an agreement with Javed for commercialization of this particular fertilizer; they will also collaborate in research and development for the next five years.
Nanotechnology is the world's newest micro-technology that can penetrate plant roots easily and deliver needed nutrients. The fertilizer will not just enhance crop yield but also reduce the costs of production and provide environmental harmony.
How does a nano fertilizer work?
It is a fertilizer wherein many essential crop nutrients are mixed in small amounts, condensed, and polymerized. It has been discovered that crop plants readily absorb the nano-fertilizer. The benefit is that one fertilization can yield two crops. In our country, two or three crops are yielded in a year. Today, fertilizer has to be used repeatedly on crops, which accordingly pollutes the soil and water. Farmers have to buy these fertilizers. Even after subsidies, the production cost is increasing. The remedy to that too, is a nano-fertilizer.
How Nano fertilizers are expected to solve farming issues
By polymerizing dense nitrogen, phosphate, potash, or any other nutrient using nano-fertilizers and giving it to the base of the plants, one can harvest a minimum of two crops using a single application. It has an active life of eight months. Therefore, as far as the use of fertilizer is concerned, nano-fertilizer is a new technology. The other side is its variation in application. Farmers in our nation purchase nitrogen and phosphate in bags. They take three bags, spread a mat next to the field, pour the fertilizer on it, and then proceed to mix it by hand. It is interesting to note that a phosphate granule is significantly larger than a urea granule, and a urea granule is significantly smaller than a phosphate granule. Additionally, potash granules are crystalline in nature. The three fertilizers are then blended together. When it is broadcasted, the bigger granules are what become available first, and therefore the space the bigger granules drop gets more phosphate. Subsequently, another space gets more urea, and another gets more potassium. If a field owned by a farmer is, for instance, twenty decimals, a third of it gets more phosphate, a third gets more urea, and a third gets more potassium, what will be the effect? There will be a yield difference.
Government institutions such as the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in collaboration with private institutions such as ACI Limited, and other public and private research institutions in Bangladesh have already conducted test trials of nano-fertilizers. It is anticipated that this initiative will bring about a revolutionary change in the prevention of fertilizer wastage and ensure its application in proper doses.
For instance, to fulfill the demand for rice, the country's staple food, a total of 60 million tons of paddy are cultivated every year. To cultivate this quantity of crop, roughly 3 million tons of urea fertilizer are used on farm land yearly, and 80% of such a requirement is fulfilled through imports. The high volume of imports of fertilizer creates a foreign exchange cost increase annually, whereas application of chemicals simultaneously decreases the soil fertility of cropland. The application of nano-fertilizers might be the potential solution.
According to Professor Javed Hossain Khan the government purchases one kg of urea for about Tk90. However, it sells to farmers at Tk27 per kg at retail level. The government thus provides a subsidy of at least Tk63 per kg.
Why nano-fertilizers are the need of the hour
Experts believe that by reducing the use of conventional urea fertilizer and increasing the use of nano-urea fertilizer, the production cost of crops can be reduced by at least 50%. Javed also assured, fertilizing one bigha of land with nano-urea will cost just Tk230 only. The application of nano-urea has the potential to reduce this expenditure by at least half. On this count, if Javed's nano-fertilizer is made available to farmers, as is the case in developed countries, it would introduce a paradigm shift to the farming sector by an overall increase in production.
It is also necessary that we increase the use of organic manures. Our soil is getting compacted due to ongoing cultivation practices. Oxygen is needed below the soil to encourage microbial activity, and the soil needs porosity.
Without an organic fertilizer, the soil will ultimately suffer. There is a huge amount of waste produced in our country, which comprises rice straw, household waste, cow dung, and chicken dung, which cumulatively account for a tremendous amount of waste. If we can efficiently collect the waste and process it with the help of microbes, the fertilizer thus obtained will, on one hand, make the soil more porous and, on the other hand, enhance water holding capacity. The application of this organic fertilizer will enhance the roots and provide plant growth with the required constituents. It is evident that the application of this organic fertilizer will enhance soil fertility. Once other fertilizers are applied, plants will be able to absorb these nutrients, resulting in a very high crop production.
Dr Abdul Momin is a Senior Communications Officer at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).
