Case studies on policies and strategies for sustainable soil fertility and fertilizer management in South Asia

According to FAO's latest estimates, global food production needs to increase by 70 percent by 2050 to feed an additional 2.3 billion people. Projections indicate that about 80 percent of the gains in production will need to come from increased yield growth and cropping intensity on existing farmlands. Nutrient depletion of soils is a key constraint to boosting the productivity of small and marginal farmers in Asia and the Pacific, who are among the most food-insecure. Efficient fertilizer use is vital to reversing this trend. Most soil fertility depletion is caused when disposable household income is too low for farmers to advance from low-input/low-output farming, resulting in nutrient mining. Serious efforts are required at national and regional levels to develop appropriate policies, technologies and capacities to address this challenge. Policies must ensure that soil fertility is not depleted in low-input systems while also helping to curb overuse of fertilizers that, in some cases, leads to serious damage to ecosystems. As part of FAO's mandate to develop a knowledge base in support of food security and rural livelihoods, the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific commissioned national studies on fertilizer use in South Asia, which has the largest incidence of food insecurity in the region. The studies aim to identify gaps in prevailing strategies and policies, and make recommendations for improvement. This book contains four case studies from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and a chapter on guidelines for fertilizer demand assessment and forecasting.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	177549 FAO, Bangkok (Thailand). Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific eng
Format:	Texto biblioteca
Language:	eng
Published:	Bangkok (Thailand) FAO 2011
Subjects:	soil fertility, soil exhaustion, fertilizer application, soil management, sustainability, case studies,
Online Access:	http://www.fao.org/3/a-i2308e.pdf
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