fertilizers are compounds used to replenish soil and plant nutrients. They can be of organic, mineral or organomineral origin, being widely used in agricultural activity and in domestic crops for the increase in soil fertility, protection against diseases, increase in crop productivity and plant development and vegetables. Big producer of food and commodities agricultural products, Brazil is now among the main consumers of fertilizers in the world.
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Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about fertilizers
- 2 - What are fertilizers?
- 3 - What is the function of fertilizers?
- 4 - Types of fertilizers
- 5 - Use of fertilizers
- 6 - What are the most used fertilizers?
- 7 - Importance of fertilizers
- 8 - Production of fertilizers
- 9 - Why don't fertilizers be produced in Brazil?
- 10 - Fertilizers and the environment
- 11 - Fertilizers in the world
Summary about fertilizers
Fertilizers are substances used to supply nutrients to plants and soils. They are also called fertilizers.
Fertilizers act in the development and growth of plants and vegetables, in addition to restoring nutrients to the soil, increasing its fertility and productivity.
Its use also extends to the recovery of plants and vegetables and protection against diseases and pests.
They can be organic, inorganic or organomineral.
They are important for agricultural production around the world, in addition to helping to care for small domestic crops.
The most used fertilizers are those produced with nitrogen (N), phosphorus (F) and potassium (K), known as NPK.
Despite being one of the biggest consumers of fertilizers in the world, the Brazil produces insufficiently to meet its own demand.
The production and use of fertilizers, when done improperly, can generate negative impacts on the environment, such as pollution of water bodies.
A Russia is now the world's largest producer and exporter of fertilizers.
What are fertilizers?
Fertilizers are chemical compounds responsible for providing nutrients necessary for the development of plants and vegetables, thus increasing your productivity. For this reason, fertilizers are widely used in agriculture to obtain better results in farming, although they are also applied in other contexts, such as gardens and plants homemade.
These substances can be of organic or inorganic origin, derived from minerals. In addition, they are divided between those found in nature or produced synthetically. the fertilizers are more commonly known as fertilizers.
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What is the role of fertilizers?
The role of fertilizers is to increase the supply of nutrientsthe vegetables, which generates a series of benefits for the plants and helps, at the same time, to increase the fertility of the grounds. There are, however, several types of fertilizers that act in different ways on plants. The results to be obtained by using fertilizers depend on their composition, as each nutrient acts on specific parts of the plant tissue and has certain functions.
The essential nutrients for plants and present in the composition of fertilizers are divided into two groups:
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Macronutrients: are fundamental nutrients for the proper functioning of the biological functions of the plants, acting directly in the accomplishment of the photosynthesis, for example, in the development of its basic structures, in its growth and fruiting. Macronutrients are used in greater amounts by plants. These are macronutrients:
nitrogen (N);
phosphor (P);
potassium (K);
calcium (Here);
magnesium (Mg);
sulfur (S).
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Micronutrients: are nutrients that act on enzymes of plants, aiding in the development of their metabolic functions. Micronutrients are used in smaller amounts by plants. These are micronutrients:
- boron (B);
chlorine (Cl);
cobalt (Co);
copper (Ass);
iron (Faith);
manganese (Mn);
molybdenum (Mo);
nickel (Ni);
zinc (Zn).
Types of fertilizers
The fertilizers are classified into three types: organic, inorganic (or mineral) and organominerals.
Organic fertilizers: are fertilizers produced using organic materials of both animal and vegetable origin, such as manure, remains of leaves and fruits, egg shells, residues from sugar and alcohol plants, among others raw material. These fertilizers take longer to be absorbed and processed by plants because they are natural materials, which have longer life cycles.
Inorganic fertilizers: are fertilizers produced using minerals found in nature or synthetic and that undergo an industrial process before being sent to the final consumer. They are also called mineral fertilizers.
Organomineral fertilizers: they are fertilizers produced using organic raw materials and enriched with minerals, which catalyze their action on plants and provide a large supply of nutrients to the soil. They are also used as substrate acidity correctors.
Know more:Organic and inorganic fertilizers
Use of fertilizers
Fertilizers are used to aid in the development and growth of plants, in addition to increasing the productivity of crops. soils and correction of their acidity, making them suitable for cultivation by replacing nutrients or adding those that were in lack. Its use is also extended to the recovery of cultivars and to increase the resistance of plant structure and protection against diseases, fungi, insects and pests.
The use of fertilizers can be made in both liquid and solid form, the second option being divided between grain or powder fertilizers. Depending on this, fertilizers are applied in different ways. They can either be planted (or sown) with the vegetables, deposited in the soil or even in the already developed plants through irrigation or spraying.
What are the most used fertilizers?
Although fertilizers can be used both domestically and commercially, they are primarily employed in agricultural crops to increase productivity and obtain better quality vegetables. quality. There are three types of fertilizers that are used on a larger scale both in one activity and in the other, which we briefly present below.
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NPK fertilizers: chemical fertilizers that have the NPK compound in their formula are among the most used both in Brazil and in the world. The acronym NPK represents three fundamental macronutrients for the development of plants and vegetables: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively. Each of these nutrients performs a different function on the plant:
Nitrogen: is involved in the growth and development of roots, sheets It is fruits, in addition to assisting in carrying out basic functions such as photosynthesis.
Phosphor: acts in the strengthening and development of plants and in the formation of chlorophyll, in addition to helping in the absorption of nutrients from the soil.
Potassium: works in the development of stalk and the root system, helping to absorb water.
NPK fertilizers are produced using different formulas, each of which is best suited for a specific type of plant. The most known and used formulas are: NPK4-14-8, NPK 10-10-10 and NPK 15-15-20.
Potassium fertilizers: They are mainly used in vegetable crops. As we saw earlier, potassium is one of the macronutrients of plants and helps in biological functions basic needs, in addition to being important in the protection of plants against diseases and other pests that affect crops. Among the most used potassium fertilizers is potassium chloride (KCl).
Importance of fertilizers
Fertilizers are compounds of great importance for the development of agriculture worldwide. They are responsible for providing adequate nutrients for plants and soils, supplying its deficiencies, maintaining its fertility and increasing its productive capacity, enabling thus the growth of cultures, the reduction of production cycles and the expansion of the productivity of each hectare of ground. In addition, they protect crops against diseases and pests, preventing the loss of crops and, therefore, possible economic losses.
For this reason, it is not uncommon to read that fertilizers are responsible for most of the food produced in the world, since they are widely used for this purpose. Many other vegetable raw materials used in industry are also produced using fertilizers.
fertilizer production
Fertilizers are produced with natural compounds, and for this reason their manufacture begins by obtaining raw material (as natural gas, minerals, rocks and even air), through which the main elements present in fertilizers, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and others, will be extracted.
A raw material is directed to the industry, responsible for the production of other materials that will also be used in the synthesis of inorganic fertilizers, such as acids and ammonia. Only after this process does the production of the fertilizers themselves take place, with the composition of the NPK being one of the last stages of the fertilizer production chain.
You Nitrogen fertilizers are today the most produced on a world scale, followed by those composed of phosphate and potassium, respectively. The biggest fertilizer producers focus on the Asian continent, responsible for approximately 60% of all fertilizer manufactured on the planet, followed by European countries.
Why is fertilizer not produced in Brazil?
O Brazil is now the second largest consumer of fertilizers in the world, behind only the China. Despite this, the country is still very dependent on the foreign market to supply its demand for these compounds, since domestic production is still insufficient for this. Petrobras has already produced fertilizers, but stopped this activity in 2018.
The production of fertilizers from raw materials such as natural gas is still very expensive in Brazil, making this process not only very costly but also of low competitiveness, considering the low cost of fertilizers from Russia, for example. This happens for both urea- and nitrogen-based fertilizers.1|
Another issue that prevents the production of fertilizers in the country, this time potassium, is the location of the reserves. Although Brazil has an enormous natural availability of potassium, it is concentrated in regions demarcated as indigenous lands, especially in the amazon, which are areas protected by law. Exploitation in these areas would have direct impacts on indigenous populations and also on the environment.
Read too: Environmental contamination by pesticides
Fertilizers and the environment
The production and use of fertilizers, when done improperly, can cause damage to the environment. At first, mineral exploration and the manufacture of these fertilizers generate gases and other effluents that, when not treated and discarded directly into nature, cause the soil pollution, from water and also donate. Some fertilizers can cause air pollution when there is evaporation of harmful compounds to the environment, which leads to long-term impacts, such as the worsening of the greenhouse effect and changes weather.
In the case of fertilizers applied to the soil, the saturation of this substance causes its elements to be carried away by the action of water (leaching), which are directed to lakes, rivers or the water table itself, causing the contamination of these water bodies. The excess of some substances is also highly harmfull for the fauna present in the soils.
fertilizers in the world
The use of fertilizers around the world has grown rapidly in recent decades, particularly from the mid-twentieth century onwards. In 1961, fertilizer consumption was 52 million tons. Almost six decades later, in 2019, that figure jumped to 215 million tons. Among the countries that most use fertilizers in plantations, especially in food production, are China, Brazil, UK, India It is Ecuador.
The fertilizer market is still very concentrated in some countries, which commercialize these products on a worldwide scale. Altogether, they move 62 billion dollars annually.
We list below which are the largest exporters of fertilizers in the world. The most recent data is for the year 2020.
Country |
Exported value (in dollars) |
Russia |
7.62 billion |
China |
6.99 billion |
Canada |
5.49 billion |
Morocco |
3.71 billion |
U.S |
3.68 billion |
Source: Economic Complexity Observatory (OEC), 2020.
Grades
|1| ESSAY. Why doesn't Brazil produce fertilizers? Canal Agro Estadão, 03 may. 2022. Available here.
By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography Teacher
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