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Agriculture

Soil remedies for small-scale farming

Nature volume 484, page 318 (2012)Cite this article

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In considering how best to improve poor agricultural soils in parts of Africa and improve crop productivity (Nature 483, 525–527; 2012), micro-dosing would be a practical and inexpensive way to balance soil nutrients.

Developing countries tend routinely to use fertilizers containing only nitrogen, but a balanced supply of nutrients is essential for a crop to flourish. Urea application doubled in Africa during 1975–2005, causing an increase in the ratio of applied nitrogen to phosphorus and potassium (see go.nature.com/eanpxq). Although urea is cheap and its use is tempting to poor farmers in need of a rapid return on investment, it selectively depletes soil phosphorus, potassium and micronutrients. Ultimately, this imbalance will render the nitrogen ineffective.

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  1. Marijn van der Velde, Linda See, Steffen Fritz International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.,

    Marijn van der Velde, Linda See & Steffen Fritz

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  1. Marijn van der Velde
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  2. Linda See
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  3. Steffen Fritz
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van der Velde, M., See, L. & Fritz, S. Soil remedies for small-scale farming. Nature 484, 318 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/484318c

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