Natural fertiliser replacing synthetic fertiliser
Fertiliser prices have been skyrocketing, which has raised pressure on farmers and consumers while also contributing to the sharp increase in the price of food globally.
However, German researchers believe human waste could provide a “viable and safe” long term alternative.
Researchers have cautioned that rising farming cost, which are primarily the result of high fertiliser prices, could result in an additional 100 million people being hungry.
According to studies, fertiliser made from human faeces and urine is safe to use in agriculture and has great potential to replace 25% of the country’s existing synthetic fertiliser.
The findings cone at a time when farmers are still contending with growing fertiliser costs brought on by a confluence of climate change and the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia are two biggest fertiliser producers in the world. Russia exports 11% of the world’s urea, and 48% of the ammonium nitrate. Russia and Ukraine together expert 28% of fertilisers made from nitrogen and phosphorous as well as potassium.
Disruption of those shipments due to sanctions and war has sent fertiliser prices skyrocketing. Chernozem is the natural rich black soil that was formed very fine mineral particles that prehistoric winds carried away from ancient glacial beds.
Such soil makes Ukraine one of the most fertile places on Earth. But Since Russian invasion causes a global shortage of fertiliser and food supplies are threatened lack of fertiliser.
Only 6.5% of the samples tested for the 310 compounds that were checked for in human waste including rubber additives, insect repellents, and pharmaceutical had detectable quantities.
Low level of the mood-stabilising medicine carbamazepine and the painkiller ibuprofen were discovered, according to scientists. However, they added that it would take more than 5000,000 cabbage heads to equal one pill’s worth of the drug.
Student at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart and author Franziska Hafner said that products derived from human faeces and urine are feasible and safe nitrogen fertilisers and dd not demonstrate any risk regarding transmission of diseases or drug.
Human waste fertiliser lows usage of fossil natural gas
The research conducted by German scientists also examined contemporary products that are already created from ammonium and nitrate that are extracted from human urine.
This includes CROP(combined regenerative organic food production), which is a component of ongoing space efforts to recycle wastewater for future bases on the moon and Mars, and Aurin, which was recently licensed for use in agriculture in Swiss and Austria.
Dr Krause, a researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops in Germany and the study’s lead author stated:
Recycling fertilisers from human urine and faeces has the potential to replace up to 25% of conventional synthetic mineral fertilisers in Germany, provided they are properly prepared and quality controlled.
Even less synthetic fertiliser would be required in combination with an agricultural transformation involving the reduction of livestock husbandry and plant cultivation for fodder, leading for example to lower usage of fossil natural gas.
Artificial fertilisers can impact their immediate environment and are generated from or through the use of fossil fuels, which contributed to global emissions.
The finding of the study show that nitrified urine fertilisers, including CROP and Aurin have enormous potential as fertilisers in agriculture. They promote the usage of these recycled goods more frequently in the future.
Human waste fertiliser lows consumers grocery bills and solves famine
The peer-reviewed study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science, comes at a time of unprecedented food inflation, when many consumers are having trouble paying their grocery bills.
Researchers at Edinburgh University cautioned early January 2023 in a study that rising farming costs, primarily brought on by high fertiliser prices, might result in an additional people being hungry worldwide.
The expense of fertiliser and climate change according to scientists, will have the biggest effects on food security and might result in up to one million more deaths from starvation.
Source: food navigator
